Respice Finem
by pikachusweetie
Summary: Slightly AU P3P Fic. As Hamuko joins the team of S.E.E.S, she experiences a life that she never would have thought of in her wildest dreams...or nightmares. Rated T for some cursing and violence. Slight FemMCxShinjiro.
1. Adventu Noctem

_AN: Well, here we go! This is a fanfic co-written by Black Moon Rising and myself. Comments and feedback appreciated! Although this may seem like the original timeline, this fic will include many more side stories and alterations to the main storyline. And I mean MAJOR alterations. xD And if anyone is curious, the title Respice Finem literally means "look back at the end" in Latin; in other words, it is an alternate version of "memento mori." And I'm sure we all know what that means. ;D_

_Kisses! Let me know what you all think! :3_

_NOTE: Hamuko's surname has been changed to "Arasawa" in order to keep things less confusing, since Minato is also a character in this fanfiction. xD  
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_~Ami_

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><p>A chill ran down the young girl's spine as she slowly stepped off the train. The quietness of the station was almost unsettling. Well, this was it. Iwatodai Station. She had to find that dormitory she was supposed to be staying at. Small hands reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled up map as she unfolded it and gazed at the intricate streets and sights of this strange island. Her feet continued to walk down the street, making a light pitter patter sound as she neared the inner workings of the city. An mp3 player continued its droll of music, though the headphones were around her neck now. Glancing at the time on the small electronic, she realized it was almost midnight. <em>Better hurry, I shouldn't be out this late at night.<em>

Time seemed to slow suddenly, and Hamuko's stomach dropped as she realized that something was horribly wrong. The streets had gotten an eerie green glow to them, and the moon had grown huge. She looked down at her mp3 player to check the time again... The face of the device was totally blank. _It's...not working?_ Glancing back up, the girl let out an involuntary gasp as she realized coffins now littered the streets where people were only moments ago. What... This was impossible! What was this! Blood seemed to ooze around her own feet and her own surroundings, and, in a panic, the girl took off at a run. "I have to get to the dorm," she whispered to herself in the dead silence as she gained speed in that direction.

She had finally made it to her destination, and she wrenched the door open, panting heavily from being shocked and exhausted so quickly. "Geez..." she muttered to herself. "I must be imagining things." Even in the dorm, things were deathly quiet. The young girl glanced around, brushing a strand of auburn hair from her red eyes. She sighed in exasperation. "Ugh...really..."

"I don't think you're imagining things."

Hamuko nearly jumped out of her skin as she flew around to find the source of this voice.

A young boy calmly approached her, his eyes glowing with a strange light. A smile was on his face, though it was quite creepy. Something wasn't right about this kid.

"Um, are you staying in the dorms?"

"Haha, no silly. Why would I need to do something like that? I can live anywhere I freely choose to," the young boy chimed as he seemed to appear right in front of the girl now. "The end is growing near, you know!"

"...Excuse me?" she asked, positively freaked out at this point.

"You'll understand what I mean in time. Don't ask your new friends about me, though... They won't have a clue." Pharos giggled, seeming to enjoy this moment. "Well, all except Minato. He's special like you."

"Special?"

"Make sure you learn your place around here. I'll be sure to visit you again!"

"Wait!"

But before she could protest any longer, the child suddenly vanished, nowhere to be found. "Oh, God..." she muttered to herself, holding her head. "What is going on here?"

Some floors up, a teen's eyes opened drearily, awakened by the piercing sound of a door slamming. The green light filtering through his curtain signaled the presence of the Dark Hour. He blinked a few times, soberly absorbing the situation, and suddenly every sense crackled, like he'd been struck with lightning. With hands that showed no sign of fearful trembling, he slowly pulled a dirty t-shirt from his floor and slipped it on over his pajama pants. Close in reach on his bedside table was a silver pistol, engraved with the word "SEES." It felt familiar in his hand as he picked it up, an old friend.

He left his room as quietly as possible, tip-toeing down the hallway as not to alert the intruder or unnecessarily waken up the others in the hallway; all of the boys in the wing would have his head if he rose a false alarm. With bare-footed steps he paused at the the top of the stairs, listening for any signs of life.

_"Wait!"_

The exclamation made him practically jump out of his skin. No longer caring about the amount of noise he made, the young man took the stairs two at a time, crashing and banging the whole way down the full flight. His arm reflexively pointed the pistol at the source of the voice. "Who's there?" he demanded, feeling a little ridiculous in his pajamas but nonetheless determined to intimidate the intruder. A girl, probably around his age, standing alone in the middle of the room, looking very unnerved and anxious. "Who were you talking to?"

The girl jumped backward in shock at the sudden appearance of this boy, her foot catching on the carpet and tumbling to the floor. She winced as she felt her back smack into the floor, then snap back up due her tenseness. Slowly, the young girl stood up, holding her arms outward as to keep him from "shooting" her. _Who in God's name just points a gun at a girl for no reason!_ she thought, before swallowing and further studying the male. He didn't seem particularly dangerous, but... there was something strange about him. "I-I was talking to...a boy.." she murmured, her eyes never leaving his, showing that although she was tousled, she was not afraid of him anymore. But...he probably thought she was crazy. "There was a boy... in striped pajamas...right...there..." she whispered, indicating the area that Pharos had once stood. "B-But...he's gone now... What is going on here?" she finally asked, much louder than before.

Hamuko relaxed slightly, putting her arms down and adjusting her stance to a less threatening one. "I just... came to this dorm because I was given directions to... I'm a new student at Gekkoukan High." Her eyes trailed the floor, embarrassed for freaking out moments ago. But the room still had its strange green glow. ...The Dark Hour was not over yet.

Apparently realizing that pointing the gun at the girl wasn't going to do much good-the weapon wasn't really meant for that form of combat anyway-and interested in something the girl had said, the young man's body lost its tension, though his light eyes were still as wary as a those of a caged animal. "Striped pajamas?" The description sounded all too familiar to him and he was suddenly looking at the girl in a new, suspicious light. "Did he say anything to you, did you talk back to him?"

_She knows Pharos? _The boy's mouth felt dry as the ghostly kid came to mind. Pharos had only ever appeared to him, no one else even knew of his existence. And yet here this girl claimed to have just had a conversation with him. The multiple voices suddenly made sense. She wasn't alone, talking to herself. Pharos had been here just moments ago.

Hamuko's eyes lit up as she realized that she maybe wasn't crazy after all. "Yeah. I talked to him," she muttered warily, clasping her hands in front of her, still nervous at the boy's attitude towards her. "I asked him who he was.. and he said something about the 'end being near'. I don't exactly know what he meant by that, but I really choose not to find out." A forced laugh escaped her mouth as she nervously played with her hair.

"So, um, am I in the right dormitory, then? I was given a letter by someone named Shuji Ikutsuki. He set up all of my arrangements, and said that I'd be joining a new club thing at the school. What was it called... Uhhm, SEES? Or something?"

She really didn't have the slightest clue why all of these instructions were so complicated. Or why this island already seemed to be completely screwy. In the slight pause she had made from her question, she continued with a follow-up. "So, what's your name?" she asked, trying to be as polite as possible to the kid who seemed like he was going to blow her head off only moments earlier. _Sheesh. What a crazy-house._

"Minato Arisato," he replied briskly, wisely choosing to ignore her remarks about Pharos. It wasn't something he really wanted to think about. "And you're in the right place. Welcome to the Iwatodai Dorm, A.K.A the SEES Headquarters." He held up his pistol; the green light reflected off the silver barrel, showing the engravings on the side. "But I'll let Ikutsuki explain that to you. I'm no good at it, and I'd probably leave a bunch of really important things out. And don't worry, you'll find your way around pretty quickly. But...ah..."

Minato bit his lip awkwardly. "I'm not really sure what we're going to do until morning. Rooms that aren't being used are always kept locked. Mitsuru might still be awake, and maybe Akihiko. They tend to monitor things during the Dark Hour most nights. If they are, they already know you're here." He pointed to the camera half-hidden in shadow in the top-corner of the room. " Good timing on your part; we're all here tonight and not...somewhere else." Minato was trying to keep in mind her ignorance, but it was increasingly difficult to explain the situation in a "normal" manner. He was pretty sure he'd mentioned the Dark Hour already at some point out of habit. "Anyway, head upstairs with me and I'll take you there. Just be really quiet, okay? The others probably wouldn't take kindly to being woken up, especially a couple in particular. You'd be fine, of course. But me?" Minato chuckled darkly, knowing from experience exactly what would happen.

Hamuko blinked a few times in succession as she stared at the boy, positively bewildered and even more confused than earlier. She gazed at him for a few more moments in the awkward silence before muttering, "Um... You're really going to have to catch me up on things here. I don't want to sound stupid, but I only understood a fraction of what you just said to me. Dark Hour? What even is that? And why on Earth do kids from a school club carry guns around?" The young girl was getting really frazzled at this point. More than likely, it was due to the current state of the island and the fact that she had been traveling nearly all day. She was tired, and all she really wanted to do was sleep. Hamuko was starting to get desperate at that point, sighing and holding her head. "N-Never mind. Forget it. Thank you for helping me," she finished, before nearing him so that he could show her the way up the stairs. The dorm appeared to be pretty spacious. The main lounge seemed nice in itself.

"Like I said, we'll explain it to you soon," Minato assured her, internally wishing he'd just kept his mouth shut. He quietly led her upstairs, whispering to her the locations and descriptions of the wings as they climbed. "We've got more people now than ever," he murmured to Hamuko as they climbed the last flight of stairs. "There's never a dull moment, that's for sure."

From a room a few floors above, a young man was peering at a group of monitors with interest. The light reflected on his angular face as he tracked the movement of the two people, one of which he recognized, but the other's identity was fairly safe for him to assume, having been informed that she would be arriving sometime in the next two days. The sight of Minato awake this late on a "break night" was nothing new; the dark-haired boy was prone to bouts of insomnia and was a notoriously light sleeper regardless. They all were, to some extent. Fighting shadows had toned their reaction time and any of them could instantly wake from a dead sleep if needed.

"Looks like we have some visitors, Mitsuru." Akihiko announced to his partner, a girl about his age. "I think they're coming up here. I'll unlock the door."

Hamuko gazed at Minato, steadily taking in what he was saying. This was all still a huge blur to her; none of it really mattered at the moment because all she wanted was a bed to sleep in. But when he mentioned the number of people staying at the dorm, her ears perked up. Well, maybe that wasn't so bad. _That means I'll have plenty of people to talk to. And that Minato kid seems nice, anyway. But I don't like how he acts; there's definitely something weird about him._

Red hair gently shifted to one side as deep wine eyes gazed at the display on the screen. "Guess you're right, Akihiko. I had a feeling she'd be arriving tonight. Too bad she had to arrive right during the Dark Hour. ...C'est la vie, I suppose," Mitsuru chuckled, before standing up from her chair and walking over to Akihiko near the door. "We should probably go ahead outside and say 'hello.'"

As Hamuko neared the top of the stairs, she involuntarily flinched as she saw the large door on the next floor slowly open. Two figures came out, but in the dark room, she had to get closer just to make out their facial features. A boy with silvery hair, seeming to be around her age, as well as another girl with long, auburn curls framing her face, stood in front of her. They didn't look too hostile; they almost looked as if they were welcoming her. The names "Akihiko" and "Mitsuru" popped into the girl's head as she realized these were the two that Minato was talking about, or so she assumed.

"Hey, Akihiko, Mitsuru. You, uh...probably already know, but the new girl's here. I just thought I'd bring her up here," Minato mumbled.

"We saw you on the monitors. Welcome," Akihiko nodded in greeting. The newcomer seemed almost...delicate to his eyes. He wondered if this was the right girl, because she was nothing like her imagined her to be. Then again, he questioned the capability of every new person who came through the door. Their mission was not for the weak of heart. "Come on in, you look like you're about to fall over."

"Want me to stay?" Minato inquired curiously. Part of him wanted to return to bed, but an almost childlike desire to get to know the newcomer was stronger. His eyes were wide, unblinking, as the symptoms of his chronic insomnia started to kick in.

Mitsuru laughed lightly. "Pleased to meet you," she muttered to the girl, flashing a half-smile. She almost felt pity at the girl; she looked pretty exhausted. _Who knows what she saw on the way over to the dormitory..._

Hamuko nodded quickly, flashing a big grin for the first time since she had arrived. Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she lightly bowed before saying, "My name is Hamuko Arakawa. Pleased to meet you all." She could at least do that much before her eyes returned to their dull and tired state.

The older girl smiled, tucking a piece of hair away from her face as she murmured, "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. This is Akihiko Sanada. We're both Seniors at Gekkoukan High. Oh, and there's Minato Arisato, of course. But I'm sure he introduced himself already. He's your age, a Junior." Mitsuru chuckled, nudging Akihiko with her elbow. "Just look at how many members we've got now. Tre bien, hm?"

Akihiko's comment about her tiredness made Hamuko blush fiercely. "I-I'm fine, I promise. Just a little...rattled, is all. I don't exactly know what to expect with my first impression of this island, senpai," she stammered, realizing his seniority and immediately correcting her speech patterns.

"Oh, and Arisato," -Mitsuru cut off the young girl before she could continue- "you can stay if you feel like it. Not bothering any of us. Feel free to do whatever you'd like with the rest of the night," she stated, smiling. "Unless of course you plan to go out. I wouldn't do that right now if I were you. The full moon's only a day away."

"..." Hamuko gave the older girl an extremely bewildered look, her eyes widened with complete confusion.

"Fun," Minato drawled sarcastically. "I'm awake now. I'll stick around here for a while since you don't mind. I think I'm up for the night."

"You don't need to be so formal with us," Akihiko advised her with a friendly, but somewhat awkward, smile. From the look on her face, Hamuko was obviously unaware of what Minato and Mitsuru were discussing, and Akihiko figured it was probably better to leave it to them. "We're all schoolmates, and we live together anyway. Loosen up a little, you'll adjust quickly." He wasn't really one to give good advice, but the girl was obviously out of her element.

Hamuko gazed over at Minato momentarily, before looking back over to Akihiko. "Did I...not get the memo or something, Senpai? None of what Minato-kun said has made any sense to me. I mean, um.. If it's something personal that you guys don't want to tell me about, that's fine, but ever since I've gotten here, everything has been so strange. Did you know about those coffins in the street? Is that _normal _here?" The girl's eyes clearly reflected her disheveled attitude. Her tired expression portrayed no trace of fear, yet she seemed completely bewildered at what had happened to her so far.

Mitsuru's face grew darker, and she nudged Akihiko as her way of saying, "Don't tell yet." She glanced back over at the young girl, and smiled once again. "It alright to be a little bit confused, but just remember that you _did_ travel all day long. I think you should rest before we have any other discussions. Though you don't start school until Monday, two days from now, I still recommend that you get some sleep before tomorrow." She looked over at Akihiko and Minato with an exasperated look on her face. What a day for the girl to come. Right before a full moon. What exactly were they to do with her tomorrow night?

Akihiko was resisting the urge to tell her everything, despite Mitsuru's warnings. He knew how uncomfortable it was to feel as though you were in the dark and everyone was keeping something from you. He did know at least one way to at least try to soothe Hamuko's visibly fraying nerves, but it probably did more harm than good, knowing him. "The...coffins are only temporary. Everything will go back to the way they were soon."

"Do you have the keys to the unoccupied rooms in here?" Minato asked, feeling the tension between them rise. "You know, so Hamuko-san can rest."

Hamuko opened her mouth to ask Akihiko further of his definition of "the way they were," but kept quiet. She really didn't want to spend another twenty minutes of awkward tea-time conversation, because tension was very obvious in the room.

Mitsuru reached into the pocket of her school shirt and pulled out a set of keys, tossing them to Minato and smiling as she muttered, "Of course. Excusez-moi. Your room, Arasawa, is on the third floor, final door on the right. Minato will show you there, and you can go right ahead and make yourself comfortable. Our dorm supervisor, Shuji Ikutsuki, will be meeting us here tomorrow to discuss your arrival. It was nice meeting you, Miss Arasawa."

Hamuko bowed before the student left for the control room again. "Pleasure," she stated, smiling softly. "You too, Akihiko-senpai." She then turned to Minato, giving him a sly look, before muttering, "Well, show me the way, oh Master of Insomnia."

"Hey, don't make fun of my problem," Minato teased as they bid the two Senior students goodbye. "How would you like it if you only got a third of the sleep you should be getting? Let me tell, you, it sucks."

Akihiko watched as the two descended the stairs and out of sight. He stretched, causing many joints in his lanky body to stiffly pop in response, and wished the Dark Hour would end already so he could get some sleep. "What do you think, Mitsuru?" he yawned widely. "Tomorrow's going to be rough for all of us. Hamuko-kun picked a bad time to show up. It's not like we can say, 'Hostile demons come around around midnight every day, but on the full moon one really big one shows up. Here's a sword, don't die out there!' We could always leave someone here to protect her in case anything happens. She's going to have a hard enough time processing all of the information we give her, and I'd hate to see her die needlessly."

Mitsuru sighed, crossing her arms as she looked at the other Senior. "I don't know, Akihiko. I will talk to Ikutsuki tomorrow about what we should do with her. Until then, we need to do with her what we did with Arisato. We need to monitor her for the rest of the Dark Hour and make sure that she's adjusting alright. As for tomorrow night... Your guess is as good as mine. She may not adjust at all. I just hope that's not the case."

Hamuko smiled, glancing over at him before focusing her attention on the stairs in front of her. "No no, not really a problem. I've been known to have the same issue. But considering I really haven't gotten any sleep in the past few days, I think it's not bothering me as much now." The young girl laughed lightly as they descended the stairs to the 3rd floor. They finally reached her room, and when they got inside, Hamuko seemed relatively pleased with the space. "These rooms are actually really nice. I like it. More room than I had before," she chuckled, before throwing her overstuffed bag onto the soft bed.

"Don't sleep in too late," Minato instructed as he led Hamuko to her room. "You don't want to miss the meeting." Standing awkwardly, in his plaid pajama pants and dirty, wrinkled t-shirt, it felt like he was walking a girl to the door after a failed date. "Well, goodnight then..."

Akihiko solemnly nodded. He returned to the group of screens, took the mouse in his hand, and scrolled through a drop list of all the live feeds. He clicked on one and a video of Hamuko's room started screening on the monitor. He despised having to do this, particularly in the case of a girl. It felt like the utmost invasion of privacy, and she already had little reason to trust them.

Noticing his obvious discomfort with the situation, Mitsuru rolled her chair closer to his, gazing at the monitor. "I'll watch if you'd like. You need to get some sleep, Akihiko. You've been working too hard lately. I request that you at least get some real rest before tomorrow. It's going to be rough with the new girl here. Hopefully she'll adjust as quickly as Arisato did." The redhead glanced over at him, giving a look that almost screamed, "Would you just sleep and leave the work to me? She _is_ a girl after all, so that would be peeping." After that attempt seemed almost futile, the Senior put her arm on his shoulder, muttering, "Please. Go get some sleep. Now."

Hamuko smiled at the awkward young boy. "Would you mind knocking on my door tomorrow morning so that I don't sleep in? My cell phone is dead. See?" The brunette pulled out her cellular device, on which the screen was completely blank. "It just suddenly turned off, and it won't turn back on. Can't figure that one out for myself. In fact..." She paused for a moment, slightly confused. "My mp3 player shut off too. ...Oh well. They might work later. Maybe the electronics around the train station messed them up."

The young girl slowly walked over to her bed, aimlessly throwing her belongings everywhere. She figured that she would rearrange them later. She just wanted to find her pajamas in the bottom of the black hole of a bag so that she could sleep. "Thank you for all of the help, Minato-kun," she called, warmly turning to him for only a moment before digging in her enormous bag again. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Yeah, see ya," Minato responded. "Oh, and don't worry about your mp3 and phone. They'll be fine by morning, I'm sure." Lazily twirling his pistol around his finger, he meandered from the door to the stairs and went down a flight. He opened his bedroom door and looked around, searching for some form of entertainment to keep him company for the rest of the sleepless night.

"Thanks," Akihiko sighed, genuinely relieved. He stole one final glance at the monitor and saw Hamuko pull a pair of pajamas from her bag. Going a tiny bit pink in the cheeks, he quickly averted his eyes. He may be a precise fighter, but something like that was way out of his comfort zone. "Tomorrow will be rough, so try and get some rest if you can too, Mitsuru. If we're all going to fight, it'll be best to be at full strength." Akihiko wondered for a moment how any of them would cope without Mitsuru's careful judgment and omnipresence. Without her this whole operation would have likely imploded long ago.

Though he gave off a cautious appearance, Akihiko was actually quite tense with excitement regarding the next evening. He shook his arms loose in an attempt to quell his anxious nerves. Mitsuru's words from a few months back rang in his head: _"This isn't a game, Akihiko." _His arms stopped shaking, but every nerve stood excitedly on end. Overly confident and hard-headed, Akihiko Sanada was not known for his restraint in battle, and it showed.

Mitsuru gazed at the male, smirking slightly as she grasped a throw hanging over a nearby chair. Wrapping it around her shoulders, she sat back down and waved her hand as if to shoo him away. "Don't worry so much. I'll sleep a little. Now, get going," she goaded. "I'll watch Little Miss Hamuko. Worry about sleeping, not the new girl." And with that, the young female turned to gaze at the monitors again, the glow reflecting off of her delicate facial features.

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><p><em>Well, what do you all think? You like? ;D Oh, also. Chapter title. "Adventu Noctem" is Latin for "night arrival," signifying Hamuko's arrival at the dorm. So in case ya'll don't get too confused. xD Please leave feedback, kthx!<em>


	2. Concursus

_AN: Same process as before. This story will pick up much quicker, I promise. ;D Title of this chapter simply means "The Meeting." Favorites and reviews will keep the story going! Thanks~_

_~Ami_

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><p><em>The Next Day...<em>

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><p>"Hey, Junpei! Come on, man, you gotta get up. We're having an unscheduled meeting and we can't start without you!"<p>

The incessant knocking on his bedroom door roused Junpei Iori from his sleep. His recognized Minato's voice, muffled through the door but more than loud enough to wake him. "Seriously?" he exclaimed loudly. Contemplating returning to sleep, Junpei rolled over and soundly punched his pillow. The knocking persisted for a little while longer and finally the teen recognized sleeping in as a lost cause. "Okay, okay! But this had better be freaking important." He rose, rather peeved, and quickly dressed. Minato waited for him outside, and Junpei half-heartedly resisted the urge to deck him. There were footsteps on the stairs at the end of the hall. A slight glimpse of a tall figure in a maroon coat could been seen on the top stair, likely on his way to the meeting room. "Even Shinjiro's up?"

"Yeah. Like I said, it's pretty important. We better hurry." For the fact that he had gotten no sleep whatsoever since the previous night, Minato looked perfectly fine. His body had adjusted to a lack of sleep and it wasn't obvious like with most people, who could get dark eye circles or fatigue. Excluding the fact that the need for sleep finally caught up to him, in which case he could be as comatose as a dead man.

"What could possible be so important that you wake me up this early, huh?"

"New girl showed up during the Dark Hour last night. Scared the hell out of me, too. I might've...pointed my Evoker at her and never fully explained that it's not a gun in the literal sense."

"Ouch, bad move."

Minato glared at him through narrowed eyes. "So, be good, okay? She's probably already really freaked out as it is."

"No problem! Sensitivity is my middle name."

"Of course it is."

A young girl with shoulder-length brown hair sleepily rubbed her eyes as she trotted down the stairs to the boy's wing. Yukari Takeba glanced at the two, before chuckling lightly. "Stupei looks like a morning person. Well, hello there, Sunshine," she teased as she ruffled her messy just-out-of-bed hair. "So, we got another new girl? Hm, haven't seen her yet."

"You haven't?"

Mitsuru descended the stairs as well, giving the two males an impatient look before glancing at Yukari. "Is she not up yet, Takeba?" she asked, slightly concerned. "Did anyone wake her up?"

"Well, I didn't know she had a room yet, an-"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!"

The entire group jumped as they heard a young girl shrieking. Mitsuru looked shocked at this point, calling out, "Come on!" to everyone there, before bolting up the stairs.

"AHHHH! OH DEAR GOD, GET AWAY! HELP!"

The speed of Mitsuru and Yukari drastically increased as they both flew up the stairs. The Senior dashed down the hall to the end. "Arasawa-san!" Everyone entered the room in a hurry, ready to fight off whatever it was that-

Hamuko was in a helpless heap on the floor, being pinned down by none other than...Koromaru. The dog slightly snarled as it held her to the floor, his ears alert, happy to have caught this "intruder" that seemed to magically appear overnight. It glanced back at Mitsuru for a moment, putting on a quite goofy grin, before turning around and locking eyes with the girl again.

"This is not what I meant by a wake up call! Please help me; I'm afraid of dogs now..."

The girl roughly pushed the animal away only to have it tackle her again, and she finally gave up the struggle, groaning with exhaustion.

"I just...opened my door, and...it...gah..." Hamuko looked...horrible, to say the least. Her eyes looked very weary with no rest and fright, her hair was in tangles from Koromaru nearly slobbering all over it, and her pajamas were disheveled and ragged-looking, to top it all off.

"S-Should I know about anything else horrifying that happens in this dorm? I'd like to know ahead of time," she mumbled under the weight of the huge dog.

"Oh, no wait, wait, wait! I got this one! Better get a pen and some paper, 'cuz this might take a while," Junpei piped enthusiastically. He was quickly silenced upon seeing the looks on the others' faces. "Oh, alright. C'mere, Koro-chan." The dog went straight to him, his bushy tail waving happily as he received a nice ear scratch. "I was just kidding about that last part. You okay?"

"Real smooth, Junpei. Don't mind either of them. One's a dog who wants nothing but your attention, and the other's just Koro-OW!" Having been thwacked in the back of his head by his friend, Minato apologetically looked to Junpei. "Sorry, couldn't resist."

"I'll remember that one when karma hits you harder than me."

"Now that I think about it, Junpei 'Sensitive' Iori doesn't really suit you," Minato said sarcastically. "But that's beside the point. Don't mind Koromaru, Hamuko-kun. He's just probably investigating you, but I think you pass."

Hamuko dazedly sat up, gazing at the small crowd that had now seemed to gather around her room. She blinked a few times, before glancing up at the boy that had spoken to her. She chuckled lightly, gazing from Minato back to Junpei. "You seem to be on good terms with him, Minato-kun," she joked, smiling at the two before standing up and brushing off her pajamas. "Pleased to meet you. My name is Hamuko Arasawa." She glanced over at the other girl that she hadn't spoken to yet, and smiled.

Yukari returned the smile, before apologizing warmly. "Yeah, Koro-chan's a little tough to get used to. He's just really protective. He'll like you in no time, I promise. My name's Yukari Takeba, pleased to meetcha."

Mitsuru sighed, holding her head in exasperation. "Well, I'm off to go tell the others that the screaming was a false alarm. Arasawa, when you're done changing, you can come to the meeting room on the fourth floor. I expect _everyone_ to be there shortly," she said, mostly to Junpei, before walking off down the hall.

"Why can't Mitsuru have just a little faith in...HEL-LO." For the first time he saw Hamuko fully. A grin spread across his face as he immediately descended into flirt mode. "So, Hamu-tan..."

"We'll just wait for you outside then!" Minato said quickly, recognizing Junpei's all-too familiar symptoms. Things were about to get very awkward, very fast. He snatched Junpei's collar and forcefully pulled him outside, closing Hamuko's door behind them.

"You're ruining all my fun today. Usually you're right there flirting with me. What's up, Minato?"

"Nothing, I just don't think it's right to do that at the moment. Things are pretty tense with her already, and she's going to have a lot to catch up on without us making it more difficult. Do you realize what tonight is?"

Junpei contemplated for a moment. His face become very serious as he found the answer. "It's the full moon, isn't it?"

Minato nodded. The emotional change in his friend was strange, like Junpei had become a completely different person. "See what I mean?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'll...try to keep it clean."

The young girl blinked quickly as she watched Minato slam the door in her face. "Well...they're sure... interesting," Hamuko mumbled to herself as she thought about the two boys. Hamuko quickly dug into her bag for some clean clothes, tossing a sweater over her head and a plaid autumn-esque skirt. She lightly sighed as the girl pulled on some black tights and loafers, and glanced around for her hair ties and barettes. Once they were found, Hamuko arranged them nicely and neatly, creating a messy looking layered ponytail that really seemed to frame her face. Satisfied with her appearance, the girl then exited. By the time she had gotten dressed, the others must have gone upstairs. She stared down the empty hallway and sighed. Even the dog was gone. "Well, guess I better go," she encouraged herself as she slowly made her way up the stairs.

"Hi, there!"

The sudden voice made the girl jump as she neared the top of the stairs, and looked up to see a young girl, most likely her age, with blue-green hair standing at the top with a smile on her face.

"I'm Fuuka Yamagishi. You must be Hamuko!"

The girl nodded quickly. "Mhm! Is everyone in there already?"

"Yep, you're the last one! Now you get to see everyone on our team!"

Hamuko followed the young girl to the large set of doors that she had seen the night before. She stood patiently as Fuuka struggled to shove one open, then filed in behind her.

The number of people in that room had almost shocked the girl. She could recall from memory a few that were already seated. Akihiko, Mitsuru, Minato, Junpei, and Yukari were chatting quietly. Nearby a serious-looking teenager sat, clothed in a beanie and a large red trenchcoat. Her eyes slowly trailed and landed on a young boy with light brown hair sitting next to the dog that the others had called "Koro-chan."

She watched as Fuuka took a seat to another girl with blonde, short hair and a somewhat empty expression. She seemed sort of...odd to her. One more glance around the room and Hamuko finally saw the only adult in the room, with brown hair and amused-looking eyes.

"You may have a seat, Miss Arasawa."

Noting that the only available seat was next to the suspicious-looking teen, the girl sat reluctantly next to Shinjiro, glancing back and forth with a somewhat timid expression. Uncomfortable with all of the stairs, the girl twiddled her thumbs, trying to keep a neutral expression.

Akihiko straightened his posture and cleared his throat. The room fell silent as he took the floor. "Since we're all here, the Chairman put me in charge of introductions. You already know me, I'm Akihiko Sanada. Going clockwise, this is the Chairman and sponsor of our group, Shuji Ikutsuki. You already know Mitsuru Kirijo, Minato Arisato, Junpei Iori, and Yukari Takeba. Next to you is Shinji Aragaki, and Ken Amada and Koromaru. And the two over here are Fuuka Yamagishi and Aigis.

"Together, we're SEES, which stand for 'Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad.' It's a bit of a mouthful. Originally it was just me, Mitsuru, and the Chairman, but it has expanded to the number you see here. We're asking you to join our ranks, Hamuko, but before you answer anything, we'd like to explain some things you really should know." Akihiko sat back down, apparently finished with his speech.

Hamuko steadily took in all of what Akihiko was saying as she listened with alert ears. Taking the names in at a somewhat rapid pace, the girl glanced next to her to briefly look at the teen Akihiko had called "Shinjiro." Her eyes rested on him for just a moment before quickly looking away and back to the Chairman. _Shinjiro seems a little bit scary,_ she thought, not daring to look back again. _I mean, he looks just like some punk off the street. Why is he here, anyway?_ She snapped back into focus as the Chairman stood up, smiling at her.

"Well, thank you, Akihiko, you did a wonderful introduction, as always. Quite the little knockout we've got here, hm, Hamuko-san?"

The young girl obviously didn't get the joke from her limited knowledge on the group, only to respond by chuckling nervously and rubbing the back of her head.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat almost in apology before continuing. "Well, as Akihiko had said, this group is known to the school board and students as SEES. It may seem like an arbitrary name for a group, but let me assure you that we have much more importance than just a dinky little after school group." Ikutsuki glanced over to Mitsuru, giving her a stare that said to not give away anything important yet.

Mitsuru piped up. "Minato has told me that you had experienced some strange occurrences when you arrived. Could you tell me a little more about those?"

Hamuko sighed, glancing back and forth. "You're all going to think I'm a nutjob, but alright. When I got here, it was almost midnight. All of a sudden, the sky turned this freaky weird green color and all of my electronic stuff shut off. The moon was huge..." She closed her eyes to recall all of the horrifying experiences again. "The streets were covered in blood, and there were coffins everywhere... Please tell me I'm not crazy. I saw this, I know it."

Mitsuru glanced at Ikutsuki, almost seeming to read his mind. _Well, she appears to have experienced the Dark Hour, but we can't be 100% certain that she has the potential._

Shinjiro looked at Hamuko from the corner of his eye. To most people, his expression would resemble a glare, but in reality that was his normal, surly expression. However, his annoyance was in fact growing stronger with each passing second. He felt uncomfortable in crowds like this, and the matter of the full moon seemed to be suffocating him, only making his anxiety worse. "Will you all just cut the crap so we can get this over with?" he growled darkly.

"Shinji," Akihiko warned uneasily.

The teen gritted his teeth but fell into a brooding silence once more. He kept tabs on Hamuko, though, analyzing her carefully as the conversation carried on without him.

"You're not crazy," Minato assured her. "Remember what I said last night about your stuff being back to normal? If you were to check it right now, they'd work perfectly. We all see the same things you do. The coffins, the freaky light...all of us experience that."

Hamuko stared at the teen for a moment in somewhat shock, taking in his hostile expression with timid eyes. "If you g-guys don't need to tell me this right now, it's f-fine," she stammered, seeming to melt under the stare of Shinjiro. _What is that guy's problem?_

Mitsuru, noticing the obvious tension, decided to wrap up the meeting quickly before anything else went wrong. "As you all are aware, there is a full moon tonight. Therefore, we have a...mission to carry out. We will fill you in on the details later, Arasawa. It is not yet decided whether you will come with us or stay here tonight. Although, I request that you do not leave the dorm today unless you have some urgent reason to." She glanced around the room with a stern eye before mumbling, "Alright, dismissed. You all can do what you'd like for the rest of the day. Be nice to Miss Arasawa. She's quite new to all of this, as you all were at some point. I trust that you make her feel at home."

The young girl had a completely blank expression on her face. Mission? Geez, what were they, secret agents! Nevertheless, as soon as Mitsuru gave word, Hamuko stood up quickly and strode to the door.

Ikutsuki caught her arm on the way, chuckling and saying, "Don't worry, you'll be fine. We'll all be here tonight, so, nothing to be concerned about. You'll adjust quickly."

All of this was so new and confusing to her. She nodded to him quickly, before exiting the room, lightly whispering something about how she needed some air. Out of the meeting room and away from the staring sets of eyes, Hamuko finally took a deep breath and sat down against the wall next to the huge door. "God..." she whispered, sighing deeply. "Was that kid at my throat for a good reason?" She couldn't figure out why Shinjiro was so angry. Moreover, she couldn't really tell why she cared. His frustration seemed to intrigue her. She almost wanted to see if she could help him, but it seemed like she was in a completely different world from the other teens. She didn't know why everyone became hushed when mentioning the full moon. It was almost...disturbing.

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><p><em>To Be Continued...<em>


	3. Mors Voluntaria

_AN: I hope you enjoyed the humor and elaboration of the previous chapter. However, prepare yourself for events much more...interesting. xD You know the drill. Review, loves!_

_~Ami_

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><p>"Hamuko seems to be a nice girl. I will have to spend more time with her and determine her character," Aigis said from beside Fuuka. Her slightly-broken manner of speaking broke the razor strings everyone was treading on, though the android girl didn't realize it.<p>

"Indeed," Minato sighed, sitting back comfortably.

Akihiko was suddenly all business. He leaned forward on his chair, his elbows resting on his knees. "We need to develop our plan of attack for tonight. At least one of us should remain here tonight, possibly two. Leaving Hamuko here alone with only one person to defend her isn't enough if the Shadow decides to hit the dorm. The fact that she is blind to her potential, or whether she even has it at all, makes her an easy target." His light eyes scanned the group, considering the multiple possibilities that this situation could be approached.

"What are we going to do if she doesn't have the potential?" Junpei inquired.

"...I don't know," Akihiko answered earnestly. "But we'll have to worry about that later."

Shinjiro, deathly silent up until this point following his outburst, murmured under his breath, "A hell of a day for her to show up."

Fuuka fumbled uncomfortably for a moment, trying to think over what everyone had said.

Meanwhile, Yukari glared daggers at Shinjiro for his obviously miffed attitude. "Hey, Shinji," she started, frowning slightly. "You know, I think you hurt her feelings. She just decided to get up and run off. She was obviously uncomfortable being in the room with you. I think she took what you said the wrong way."

The young girl looked to whom she considered the "adults" to help the situation, but Mitsuru and Ikutsuki were talking intently in the other corner of the room. "Um, umm... You know what? I'm gonna go talk to her, kay guys?" And with that, the blue-haired girl trotted out the door to find Hamuko staring at the wall. She smiled, sitting down next to her.

"Sorry everyone's so tense. It seems like Yukari-chan and Shinjiro-kun are about to have a full-scale arguement in there. We're just all nervous about tonight. I wish I could explain everything to you, but I'm not sure how much I can say..."

Hamuko glanced over at the girl, smiling and shaking off her previous funk. "Nah, it's fine. I trust you all enough. I'll be okay, I think."

Shinjiro's eyes flared as his mood suddenly dived south. "So now you're the queen of feelings, Takeba? I wasn't even talking to her."

Sensing things taking a turn for the worse, Minato looked a little panicked. "Come on, guys. Don't be like that. Especially not today."

"Don't get into something that doesn't concern you, Arisato."

Minato abruptly jumped from the couch, his hands clenched into tight fists. The furious expression on his face felt foreign when turned against his the older teen. "I'll get involved to keep you from alienating someone who doesn't even have a way to brush it off. It's not her fault she's new, give her a break already! And don't take it out on Yukari, she's just talking sense."

The next few events happened within the span of a couple heartbeats; Shinjiro was on his feet, Junpei had restrained Minato by roughly grabbing the back of his jacket, and Akihiko had responded by blocking Shinjiro's path with his body. "Not now," Akihiko sharply threatened to Shinjiro. "Keep it up and I'll finish this conversation myself and I swear neither or you will like it if it comes to that."

Shinjiro glowered at Minato over Akihiko's shoulder, weighing whether or not Akihiko's wrath would be worth slugging Minato. Apparently thinking better of it, he sat back down, but his saturnine countenance remained.

The two girls jumped as they heard some shouting and a ruckus in the room they had just exited.

Hamuko stood up, gingerly opening the door and peeking inside. "Is...e-everyone okay..?"

When she gazed into the room, her heart sank. Minato and Shinjiro seemed to have a death stare present, while Junpei and Akihiko looked stressed out. Yukari had a shocked expression on her face from what had apparently happened moments earlier.

"I-I'm sorry," she squeaked, realizing that she had peeked in at a bad time. After a long pause, the girl sighed, closing her eyes and opening the door the rest of the way. "...This is my fault, isn't it?" she muttered, giving up on trying to play innocent. "I'm just going to get in your guys' way, aren't I? You could have just told me, you know."

Fuuka jumped up and followed suit, coming up behind the girl and putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Hamuko-chan, please don't say that!" she pleaded, looking positively dismayed with the girl's attitude.

A few seconds passed as Shinjiro's blood pressure dropped back to a manageable range and the blood stopped pounding behind his ears. "You're fine," he said to Hamuko in a slightly softer, more acceptable tone. "Come back and sit down so we can resume with the meeting. Sorry about all of that." The last words came out in a rushed breath, as if he hated admitting his falsity.

Junpei cautiously nudged Minato with his elbow as the boy sat back down next to him. "Relax, man. No good getting yourself all worked up."

Minato glanced over at him before nodding his head slightly. He pointedly avoided eye contact with Shinjiro, though, as if if locking glances would be enough to set him off. How had the situation spiraled out of control so quickly? Mitsuru and the Chairman had deftly stayed out of the fight, and Ken seemed to have greatly shrunk in his seat. Aigis looked somewhat blank again, as if unsure how to process the fighting. Everyone else was practically on the edge of their seats.

Hamuko wasn't exactly going to protest to the teen that looked as dangerous as some punk on the street. She quietly trotted back over and sat down on the couch, sighing as she realized how stressful this really was going to be. "I'm sorry," she muttered again. "I don't even feel like I want to be here." Her eyes trailed over to Minato, Fuuka, Junpei, and Yukari for support. "So, can we start over? I'd really like to get to know you all."

Yukari smiled fondly at the girl, nodding. "Yeah, that sounds good."

Fuuka agreed wholeheartedly, patting Koromaru on the head as he made his rounds around the room.

Ken glanced over at her, staring with the widened eyes of a child. He merely watched, not preferring to discuss like all of the others due to his age and quiet nature.

"So, do you all go to Gekkoukan High then? Except for you, Ken," she chuckled, smiling warmly at the child.

"We all do, except for Ken, Koromaru, and Shinjiro," Junpei answered. "Yuka-tan, me, Minato, Fuuka, and Aigis are all juniors, while Mitsuru-senpai and Akihiko-senpai are seniors."

"You're a junior, right?" Minato asked. "Well, join the club, because there's a lot of us." Koromaru came over with a soft whine and pleading eyes. "Oh, alright." Minato sat back in his chair and Koromaru hopped onto his lap. He comfortably stretched across Minato's legs, his tail wagging lovingly. "This guy would go to Gekkoukan if he could."

Hamuko nodded. "Wow, we really do have a lot of Juniors." She smiled as the dog, now seeming completely friendly, enjoyed the attention he was getting.

Yukari grinned, stating, "It's true. But at least we all get along. Most of the time, anyway. Right, Stupei?"

She laughed in response, glancing over at Junpei. "You must get that a lot," she responded. "Seems like you're the abused one around here, huh?" Glancing over at Shinjiro, a puzzled look came across her face. He did look a little older than her, she figured. "Did you graduate, then?" she asked the teen, innocently assuming that he was older than his true age.

Fuuka instantly tensed as the young girl asked the question. "Um-"

"No," Shinjiro stated briskly in a low voice. It felt awkward saying this with the Chairman in the room, but it was in fact the truth. "I go there maybe once or twice a month. I have better things to do than sit at a desk all day." When he thought about it, he couldn't actually remember the last time he'd been at Gekkoukan during the day.

"It's not that bad. Oh, wait, take that back. It definitely is," Junpei laughed as he tugged on the brim of his hat.

Minato looked at Junpei with a sarcastic smirk. "How would you know, you sleep the whole time!"

"Like you're one to talk! You snooze almost as much as me!"

"Not exactly my fault...it just catches up with me sometimes."

"I find the curriculum to be quite informative," Aigis said, not paying attention to Minato and Junpei. "I am particularly interested in the manner that students interact with each other when not in class. By practicing my recognition of body signals, I am processing at this moment the manner in which Hamuko Arakawa is being received. Shall I relay these observations?"

"Ah, that's not really necessary, Aigis. But thank you," Minato said, stopping her.

Hamuko was put off by the fact that Shinjiro seemed snappy again, but was more put off by the fact that this girl Aigis was speaking so strangely. "Um, Ai-chan," she murmured, rubbing her head in confusion. "Are you...foreign? Your speech patterns are very odd." She didn't want to sound rude, but she had no clue what this girl was talking about.

Yukari laughed suddenly, causing Hamuko to jump. "Ohhh.. We never told you, did we? Aigis is...not human."

"Excuse me?" The dumbfounded look on the girl's face was something to laugh at, for sure.

"She's, um...a robot. An android created by Mitsuru-senpai's family. Pretty cool, huh? She's starting to adjust to real life, and she seems to be making some process," she commented, shrugging. "I guess that was yet another thing we left out again. We really need to work on that stuff, huh, you guys?"

_The things we're hiding from her just keep adding up, _Minato pondered.

"Correct," Aigis continued. "I am a weapon developed by the Kirijo group with one purpose: to defend the members of SEES and fight alongside them. My main functions are-"

Shinjiro stiffened, realizing that Aigis' words would soon give them away.

"Thanks, Aigis. I'm sure Hamuko would love to hear about your mission, but this is not the best time," Akihiko interrupted, also recognizing what Aigis was trying to get across to Hamuko. He finally looked to the Chairman, his eyes asking, _"Can we please just tell her already?"_

Ikutsuki glanced over at the group for a moment, but quickly returned to his hushed conversation with Mitsuru.

Hamuko laughed awkwardly, looking at the group. "I get it, it's fine. I guess I'll find out about everything tonight, right?" She paused for a moment, not hearing any immediate response. "Um, soo... What do you guys do for fun around here?"

Fuuka piped up, smiling as she chirped, "Well, I like cooking! I...may not be the best yet... But it's still really fun!"

Yukari chuckled. "I like going to Paulownia Mall. It's pretty close by."

"Attempting to sleep, listening to music, hanging with you guys, for the most part," Minato quipped. "And boxing with Akihiko is fun, even though he always kills me."

Akihiko smirked. "You're getting better at it, though. First time you ever fought me I knocked you out cold, remember?"

Smiling wistfully, Minato nodded. "Oh, I do. I was out for a good ten minutes, or so I've heard." The experience was one that would be hard to forget; first he was facing down Akihiko in a training fight, the next thing he realized he was on the ground, blood from his nose ruining one of his school shirts, and the others were standing above him looking extremely worried. "Don't taunt him too much when you fight. I learned that the hard way."

"He's actually a closet pervert, though," Junpei retorted with a mischievous grin.

"Wha-? I am not!"

"Puh-leeze. He's as bad as me!"

Seeing Akihiko being taunted was rather entertaining for Shinjiro. He adjusted the black beanie over his long, ashy brown hair and quietly listened to the conversations. His opinion of Hamuko hadn't changed much in the past few minutes; to him she seemed almost to lack confidence, and had a meekness that suggested a diminutive nature. Shinjiro wondered why she wasn't demanding the answers she obviously wanted, not to mention why the Chairman hadn't already provided her with them. _What is he playing at? Could he...be holding out for tonight? _The thought was absurd. Ikutsuki may be a little odd, but in Shinjiro's years with SEES, he had learned that the wise-cracking Chairman wasn't stupid. Then again, Shinjiro supposed that it was the same thing that had happened with Minato: animalistic instincts of self-preservation had driven him to pull the trigger and summon Orpheus for the first time.

"As bad as you?" Hamuko questioned innocently. "Hm... Well, I think I know who _I_need to stay away from." She giggled, winking at the two as she slowly began to grow more comfortable. The way they were acting almost made her feel like she had known them forever.

Fuuka chuckled. "You better start showing Hamuko-chan how big of a liar Junpei is, Akihiko-senpai, or else she'll never trust you."

Hamuko laughed in response, tugging on her ponytail as she glanced around again. "You guys all seem so welcoming. I don't know why I was so nervous before. I guess I just didn't know what I was getting myself into." _Well... I might still not know._

The irony of her words struck them all, but particularly Minato. For her to claim that she didn't know what she was getting into when she still didn't have the full picture...when they told her the full story, the realization of the 25th hour would either empower or crush her indefinitely. Minato tried to imagine Hamuko putting the barrel of a gun to her head and squeezing the trigger to summon, if she even had the capabilities to do that. What would happen if she did that but didn't have the potential? Would the gun do nothing and leave her a victim to the Shadows? His thoughts shook Minato like a tornado. _Are we sending her to her death? _

Shinjiro was having similar thoughts. Persona-users were rare anyway; out of the entire population of the city, only the group sitting before him could summon their "masks." For a while he allowed himself the privilege to wonder what it would be like if she did have the potential. What would her Persona manifest itself as? What kind of abilities would she have, what duty would she choose to fulfill in SEES? Shinjiro looked to Akihiko, knowing that he had already ordered an Evoker to be made for Hamuko. _He's getting ahead of himself_. _We have priorities to take care of first._

Both Minato and Shinjiro seemed to be very deep in thought. It almost made her nervous. Was it something she had said? Nevertheless, the girl was determined to try to make everyone comfortable with her arrival. "Minato-kun," she called, more than likely snapping him out of his stupor. "I'm sorry all of this has made you guys so tense. I can tell that I probably ruffled some feathers. I mean, I really thought you were going to kill me there for a second," she chuckled.

"What did you do?" Yukari suddenly blurted, glaring at Minato with daggers in her eyes.

Hamuko rolled her eyes, looking almost unamused with the terrifying experience the night before. "Oh, he almost shot me. Or something."

Ken's eyes grew wide as he glanced over at Minato. _Well, he nearly blew it._

Fuuka looked over at the boy, too. "Minato-kun..." she whispered, almost exasperated with what he had done.

An exasperated expression came over Minato as his head fell back onto the couch and he looked at the ceiling. "Oh, God. Look, I didn't mean anything like that." He pulled out the pistol from his jacket pocket; he almost always kept it on him. Call it paranoia, but he felt weird without it. With a knowing smirk, he raised it in the air and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. "See, it's not real. It's just more for intimidation. You know how things are these days. It doesn't hurt to the be safe."

"I didn't know you carried it around with you all the time," Akihiko said.

"Most of the time I do, except to school. I'd hate for it to fall out of my jacket in the middle of class."

Shinjiro chuckled. "That would be bad."

Minato felt bad lying to her, even though it really was only a half lie. It was true that the Evoker wasn't real in the sense of normal guns, but it wasn't completely harmless, either. "I thought you were an intruder who'd broken in," Minato apologized.

Hamuko instinctively flinched as he pulled the trigger. Nothing did happen. But...something about it seemed strange to her. She continued to stare at it before she finally mustered the strength to ask, "Could I see it, Minato-kun?"

Yukari glanced over at the young girl in concern. What exactly was she wanting to find out?

Fuuka, too, was slightly concerned. This could lead to some very pressing questions.

Mitsuru, however, turned away from Ikutsuki and a serious look grew on her face. "Give it to her, Arisato." Though it wasn't a definite indicator, the girl's intense interest in the faux-weapon had piqued Mitsuru's curiousity. She looked at Akihiko briefly, and smirked. _You might just be right, Akihiko. This girl's just as special as Minato._

The ends of Akihiko's mouth turned up very slightly, and he nodded his confirmation to Minato.

Shinjiro sat up much straighter, realizing that many of their questions may be answered right here. His face crackled with muted anticipation, much as it always did when he witnessed someone called forth their Persona for the first time. A newly-summoned Persona tended to be a little unstable, and if things got out of hand he could easily overpower Hamuko and take the Evoker from her to summon Castor and force her Persona back. Then again, some users had been perfectly fine the first time and had maintained full control over themselves until finally getting tired. Time would tell which one she was, but the girl's Persona's characteristics could tell a lot about her character, much like how Minato's Orpheus slightly resembled him and Mitsuru's Penthesilea reflected her somewhat icy demeanor.

Minato held his Evoker to her. His hand shook very slightly, and he hesitated for a moment, as if debating whether or not to relinquish it. But curiosity won over and the Evoker left his hand. "What do you want with this, Hamuko-kun?" he asked hypothetically.

Hamuko gently grasped the weapon from Minato's hands, her hands violently shaking as she held it. Her palms began to sweat and she stared intently at the Evoker as she felt all eyes burning into her skin. "I-I...don't know, Minato-kun," she responded, almost seeming to be in a trance as her fingers traced the S.E.E.S. logo on the side. "What...is this for, really..."

Fuuka held her breath as she watched Hamuko, with widened eyes, scrutinizing the object with much curiousity.

Yukari glanced at Minato, concerned. She seemed so distraught with the object. Just the action of placing it in her hands had changed her personality completely.

Ken clutched the edge of his seat, looking at her as if she were some sort of freak of nature.

Hamuko swallowed the lump that had somehow recently surfaced in her throat. She grasped the handle and pulled the trigger a few times. Nothing. It seemed like it was useless. Then why...was she so...interested in it? Her heart rate slowly increasing, Hamuko's hands shook even more so as she slowly raised the gun up to stare at it in the light. "S.E.E.S. ...Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad," she murmured, almost seeming to absorb the whole history of what the weapon had been through. "Execution.." Seeming to over-analyze the situation, the girl squinted as thousands of thoughts raged through her mind. It was as if her mind had gone through information overload. She had created a dead silence in the room.

Suddenly overcome with some strange emotion, her eyelids flew open as she automatically put the gun to her own head.

Her hands continued to shake...

The trigger button continued to be shifted back and forth. Not enough to click back all the way, but still shaking as if in anticipation.

Her finger.. slowly pressed harder onto the button...  
><em><br>What are you doing!_

Hamuko suddenly pulled back, dropping the gun to the floor and panting heavily. Her eyes slowly filled with tears from not blinking moments earlier. She blinked a few times to rid of them, and flipped her head back and forth at everyone frantically. "I-I'm...I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me, I don't know what I did, I just-" Her panic seemed clear as she grasped the edge of the couch. What had she done?

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><p><em>To Be Continued...<em>

* * *

><p><em>P.S.- "Mors Voluntaria" is Latin for... well, I'll give you three guesses. Voluntary death. Suicide. ...Persona. ;D<em>


	4. Ciere

_AN: New chapter's already up! I'm hoping to be able to put one chapter up a day, at least for a while. I hope you enjoy. ^^ Let me know what you think._

_~Ami_

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><p><em>Previously...<em>

* * *

><p><em>Suddenly overcome with some strange emotion, her eyelids flew open as she automatically put the gun to her own head.<em>

_Her hands continued to shake..._

_The trigger button continued to be shifted back and forth. Not enough to click back all the way, but still shaking as if in anticipation._

_Her finger.. slowly pressed harder onto the button..._

_What are you doing!_

_Hamuko suddenly pulled back, dropping the gun to the floor and panting heavily. Her eyes slowly filled with tears from not blinking moments earlier. She blinked a few times to rid of them, and flipped her head back and forth at everyone frantically. "I-I'm...I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me, I don't know what I did, I just-" Her panic seemed clear as she grasped the edge of the couch. What had she done?_

* * *

><p>"Huh," Shinjiro muttered to himself. He had little more to say on the subject. The girl had done something he hadn't thought possible: holding the gun to her head of her own accord. She didn't seem suicidal in the least sense of the word, and he wondered what had compelled her to use the Evoker in such a way. Her finger had very nearly pulled the trigger, a few more millimeters and she would've done it.<p>

Akihiko and the two other seniors looked to each other and a brief understanding was exchanged between them. The chances of Hamuko being a Persona user, in their opinions, had gone up drastically. In Akihiko's mind, all but the tiniest semblance of doubt had vaporized instantly, replaced with a glowing sense of hope.

"Hamuko-kun..." The action was shocking, to say the least. Hamuko had no knowledge of the Persona world, yet some force had definitely been at work there. Most normal people would not put a gun to head, fake or otherwise. Minato himself was an exception; he had no idea what shooting himself with the Evoker would do, but he had led off Yukari's example and the force of his awakening Persona empowered him and he knew what to do. "Everything's fine. It's fake, nothing would happen, I promise. Do you want to take a break for a while? We don't mind at all, right guys?" Minato looked to the others, seeking an agreement. Koromaru, sensing her distress, hopped from Minato's lap and trotted to Hamuko. His skinny muzzle rested on her legs and his shiny eyes surveyed her comfortingly. He quietly whined to her.

"Koromaru says, 'Do not cry,'" Aigis translated immediately. "Koromaru is a very intelligent dog, and I recommend that you should take his advice. From my observations, the expelling of liquid from the eye signifies a negative emotional response." To anyone who was not aware of Aigis' background, the words would sound insensitive, but the message was made clear: the humanoid robot was recognizing Hamuko's upset reaction and was processing it successfully.

Hamuko pulled her legs up, tucking them to her chest as she sat curled up in the sofa. The young girl let out a deep breath, her shaking now starting to recede. She swallowed again, before patting Koromaru on the head. "Everything's _not _fine, Minato-kun. Ever since I've gotten here, I've felt so bizzare, so out of sorts... It's scaring me." Her personality had completely changed from her cheerful disposition only moments earlier. She gazed down at the dropped weapon, staring at it intently. "I wanted to... I wanted to so badly... To feel the cold metal against the side of my skull, to pull that trigger...but nothing was going to happen... so why did I feel so compelled?"

Fuuka reassured her. "It's okay, Hamuko-chan, you're just stressed out-"

"No, Fuuka-chan."

Mitsuru and the Chairman watched her ever so intently. Finally, the Senior spoke up. "Why _did _you want to do that, Arasawa?"

She flipped her head in the direction of the girl, almost seeming shocked at what she said. "I don't know, Mitsuru-senpai! I just don't!"

"Yes, you do."

"No! I really don't!" she protested.

Yukari glanced over at Mitsuru in concern. What exactly was she getting at? Whatever it was, it seemed to frustrate Hamuko.

"Hamuko. You know. So tell us why."

Her eyes glared at the redhead with such a fire in her eyes that it almost seemed to burn anyone that looked upon her. "No!" She couldn't even figure out why her emotions were out of whack now.

"Do it, Arasawa."

Feeling provoked, the girl jumped up from her seat, seething with frustration. "Do what!"

Fuuka stood up. "Mitsuru-senpai, don't do this-"

"Do what you wanted to do before. Just do it."

Hamuko almost felt afraid at this sudden order now, but the compelling feeling was so great that she couldn't hold it in anymore. It seemed like something else was controlling her.  
><em><br>__"Do it. Call upon the power of Persona..."_

"Per...so..na..?" she questioned, listening to this ghastly voice. Out of pure anger and fury, the girl quickly grasped the weapon from the floor and put it to her head once again, her entire body shaking with emotion.

Both Fuuka and Yukari were on their feet now. "Hamuko-chan...?" Fuuka whispered.

Tears leaked out of her eyes as she released her anger. "Damn it!" she cursed, her grip tightening.

"_Fine! ...Per..So...NA!_"

As the girl pulled the trigger, she felt a rush of wind encircle her body. She screamed in terror, unsure of what was going on. The Evoker fell from her hand as she grabbed her head, feeling as if it was going to split open. This feeling...was inhuman. She opened her eyes after the rush of light and wind only to see a small figure floating in front of her. She felt as though she was momentarily blinded. Blinking a few times, she could finally make out what was in front of her. A small creature, with orange skin and yellow ponytails floated in front of her. Clothed in a small white Cheongsam, the Persona's iridescent fairy wings fluttered as it looked concernedly at its master.

Even Ken had gotten up by now. "M-Mitsuru-senpai... she.."

Hamuko dazedly gazed at Hua Po for a few more moments before she realized that it was her doing. Her body seemed to have its life drained away. The young girl staggered, nearly tripping over Shinjiro's leg as she attempted to gain balance. Her eyelids fluttered, one arm dropping as only one could remain clinging to her head. The summoning of her Persona seemed to exhaust her to the point where it seemed she was about to faint. All she could really think about was trying to stand. She hardly even recognized that something had actually happened with that gun. She had done something that she would have never thought to be humanly possible. And it didn't even matter to her at that moment. Hamuko let out a whimper of pain as she continued to shake and wobble in place.

Shinjiro's body came up as he reached out for Hamuko's trembling frame. With firm hands he steadied her by her shoulders and helped her back to her sofa. The stare of her Persona was unnerving as it watched them, her small eyes almost threatening him if he dared to make one false move towards her master. "You're fine, you did fine," he assured her quietly. "The first summoning is always the hardest." He kept wary around the pixie-like creature; he didn't know what it was capable of.

Looking pleased, Akihiko felt the tension in the room clear. Hamuko seemed shaken and tired, but whole. He looked to the Chairman and Mitsuru. "So we were right, after all," he said, even though there had been little doubt in his mind.

Minato was left speechless. The humming of the Persona's wings brought him from his stupor. He wanted to tell Hamuko something so badly, but he wasn't sure how far to press his luck, fearing that she might take things negatively. He said it anyway, knowing that if he didn't she'd think of herself as a freak. "You're not alone. We can all do that. We are Persona users, just like you."

A boy reaching out to grab her would normally make Hamuko blush, but the girl was so pale that it was almost unnerving. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words would come. She reached up to grab her head and winced as a sharp pain rang through it.

Mitsuru nodded at Akihiko, but her attention was still focused on the girl. She gazed at her concernedly and nudged the Chariman with her arm. "She summoned her Persona with no trouble, but it seems to taken a lot out of her. If she's anything like Arisato, it might not suit well with her body," she murmured to him.

Ikutsuki nodded. "Yes, you're right. I remember what happened with him," he whispered back.

"P-Persona users... summoning.. I... I don't understand," she muttered, the room still spinning in her eyes. Hua Po fluttered closer to her, giving a particularly nasty glare to Shinjiro for touching her. The young girl reached out her arms, almost as if she was trying to embrace the creature. "What...is this..."

"Your Persona, Hamuko-chan," Fuuka chirped, smiling softly. Her eyes still looked on with concern, though. The girl seemed absolutely ghastly.

"Persona..." Hamuko gazed at the creature, her eyes slowly starting to focus again. A shiver ran through her body as she felt an intense amount of frigidness. "Hua..Po... That's her name." At hearing it's name being called, the fairy creature flew closer until it's small arms wrapped around the girl. A warm glow suddenly appeared around the two as the Persona tried to help remedy her master's condition.

"A fire Persona.." Mitsuru murmured, studying the two.

Hamuko suddenly jerked away from the creature as an intense amount of pain racked her body. She whimpered as she held her head again. Hua Po flitted back for a moment, seeming to watch her with a strange interest.

Mitsuru involuntarily gasped as she looked at the creature. For a moment, the Persona wasn't what it was before. For only a fraction of a second, the Persona flicked from Hua Po to a young looking blonde girl, with ghastly white skin and soulless eyes. It looked over to Mitsuru and the Chairman with a horrifying look in its little, almost human eyes, tilting her head before changing back to the fairy and completely disappearing altogether. _This is just like Minato with his Persona before! A much stronger Persona took Orpheus's place before in that battle...__  
><em>_  
><em>Meanwhile, Ikutsuki had a truly shocked look on his face. "The...Death Arcana..." he murmured. "Mitsuru, keep an eye on her. She might not make it if that Persona is residing in her as well."

Hamuko began to shake again, not seeming to feel the warmth from her friendly Persona any longer. "W-What's...happening to me.."

Yukari, close enough to hear Mitsuru and the Chairman's hushed conversations, stared at them in horror. "Is she going to be okay?"

"Did...you guys see that..?"

Fuuka was staring at the girl in shock, obviously disturbed by the sudden changing of her Persona. Her eyes were wide and her face grew pale as the vision of what seemed to be a dead girl popped into her head.  
><em><br>_Yukari snapped at the two. "We can't just not do anything!" she shouted. "She's obviously in pain!"

Ikutsuki looked down, grabbing the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. "I didn't know it was going to turn out like this. I knew she had an incredible amount of power, but if that is her _true_ Persona..."

Yukari bit her lip as she could no longer find anything to say. What were they supposed to do? Just let this thing attack her from the inside?

"The Death Arcana?" Minato repeated in surprise. That was one Arcana that none of them currently possessed, and it sounded ominous and terrifying. The vision of Orpheus' transformation almost seemed to be replaying in front of Minato. "What can we do about it?" he asked miserably. "We can't force the Persona out of her. Even if we could, it might kill her." The one bright side to this was that the Persona that he had inadvertently summoned had thankfully never appeared to him since, although the thought of it possibly slumbering in the deepest recess of his body made Minato's heart constrict. He greatly pitied Hamuko; he wouldn't wish anyone in a situation similar to his, but nothing could be done about it at this point.

Akihiko leaped from his chair and quickly went to his longtime friend. He couldn't believe he was going to ask this; Minato had handled things quite well and had been able to control his Persona immediately, but Hamuko was frailer than him and this wasn't a battle situation. This ghostly female Persona gave off a much more sinister air than the one Minato had summoned. She posed an immediate threat and had to be taken care of as soon as possible or else Hamuko could be greatly harmed, or worse. Akihiko did not want to see her die in this room without a fighting chance. "Shinji, do you have any of the-" Akihiko whispered, his voice desperate.

Shinjiro's eyes grew very dark and flinty. "No. Even if I did I wouldn't give any to her. Just give her a minute, she'll come 'round, I think. She's stronger than you take her to be. She won't need them, and I won't get her addicted."

Hamuko blinked rapidly as all of the voices around her started to get foggy and mixed-up.

Ikutsuki moved forward. "Everybody back up. She's panicking. You don't want to crowd her."

Fuuka bit her nail nervously as it didn't seem like she was getting any better.

Yukari glanced over at the Chairman, stating, "If there's something I can do... can I heal her? Maybe if I-"

"No, Takeba. We have to wait it out."

Her forehead broke into a sweat as she seemed to struggle with this internal force. Hamuko curled up into a ball again, twitching involunatrily as she felt short bursts of pain. It seemed almost unbearable. "I'm sorry.." she whispered, her vision starting to go blank. "I don't know how long I..."

And just like that, the girl stopped struggling. Her body fell limp as she closed her eyes. Relief seemed to wash over her. The intense, horrible feeling she had experienced was starting to fade away. However, she wasn't strong enough to hold on and wait the pain out. She had experienced enough pain for her body to take it all conciously. One hand clutching over her heart, the girl slowly succumbed to the darkness that was calling to her. _Persona, huh... Just how much of this can I take?_

Mitsuru, however, thought much worse from the girl's sudden cease of movement. "Arasawa," she barked as she stepped over to her. "Can you hear me? Hamuko?" She sighed, realizing that she was down for the count. Taking a slim hand, the Senior reached down and felt the girl's pulse. "She's just unconcious," she muttered, relieved. "But we still need to watch her."

Ikutsuki squinted his face up in frustration. "I hope she will be alright. She still doesn't appear to be in pain, but she's not conscious. That means that we need to monitor her carefully and make sure that nothing else arises. That was just a fluke; it shouldn't happen to her again. If it does, then we'll need to find some way to control or suppress her Persona. But with any luck, she should be just fine. I'm...sorry you all had to see this."

A puzzled looked came over Minato's face. "How long was I out when I summoned Orpheus that time?"

Akihiko thought for a moment. "A long time, definitely over a week."

Junpei, who had been uncharacteristically silent up until this point, let out a loud sigh. "So much for her getting into school on time. I was really looking forward to seeing her in the Gekkoukan uniform, too..."

"That's all you can say after that?" Akihiko wondered aloud. "Mitsuru, Ikutsuki-san, should we take her to the hospital or just keep her here? We could put her in her room, and we can take monitoring her in shifts. Our equipment should be able to track her vitals. Either way, we'll have to leave a couple of us with her at least for tonight."

"We can keep her here," Ikutsuki responded. "I have a feeling that she will recover much faster, however. She didn't actually have to use her Persona in battle. Even though her Persona seemed much more...defiant than yours, Minato, she may be back on her feet in a few days."

Mitsuru almost seemed relieved. She glanced over at Akihiko in exasperation. "Well, we need to find out who's staying. Preferably, two of which can handle the protection of Arasawa. Fuuka, you know you have to come with us, in order to locate the shadow. Ken, you need to stay with us as well; we don't want you getting caught up in anything if you have to stay with Arasawa." She glanced around, sizing up the rest of the team. "I myself would prefer not to stay, although, since Minato is the 'leader' of our group, I believe that he needs to make the executive decision. Any objections with that?"

Yukari shook her head, glancing over at the limp girl. She watched as Hamuko's hand that was placed on her chest slowly fell and landed on Shinjiro's sleeve. The unconcious girl habitually grasped onto it, almost as if she was a sleeping child, shivering again after a moment of stillness. Yukari's mouth dropped open and she silently giggled into her hand. "I think she's going to be okay," she murmured, smiling.

Minato smiled slightly at the sight of Yukari caring for Hamuko in an almost sisterly way. "Yukari and Koro-chan, stay with Hamuko tonight. Um...Shinjiro, too. You're one of the strongest and I feel confident leaving you in charge of that group. We only really need two, but being a little over-prepared might be a good idea. I think that'll be a nicely rounded team." He hated leaving all three of them behind; the team felt like it had large holes in it, but it couldn't be helped.

"Mitsuru-senpai and Junpei, you're with me. Akihiko too. Fuuka can give us support and information on the enemy and the status of the dorm group. Aigis and Ken-kun will be somewhat in the middle. They'll work with Fuuka as the support team, but they should be ready to fall back to reinforce either the fighting team or the dorm group if things get out of hand. No matter what, we'll all keep in constant contact with each other."

_Babysitting duty! _Shinjiro flared at the thought of missing the fight to play nurse. He and Akihiko could trade places easily; Akihiko had a much leveler head and could make spur-of-the-moment decisions. But Minato's judgment had proved effective before, so he didn't exactly have the right to question it. The two groups seemed decent enough, and the ability to bring Aigis if anything became troublesome was a little more reassuring.

"Fighting team, hell yeah!" Junpei jumped excitedly from his seat and punched the air.

"Alright with me," Akihiko confirmed.

Yukari nodded. "Sounds good."

Ken glanced over at Hamuko, before solemnly nodded. "Um, sure. That's fine with me."

Mitsuru discussed the plan with the Chairman before getting his a-ok. "Very well, Arisato. Do not disappoint us."

Fuuka almost seemed to be bursting with anticipation. "I'll be ready," she said, determined. She glanced back over at Hamuko. The girl had now somehow managed to collapse sideways onto the couch, snuggling her face into Shinjiro's sleeve. Even in her deeply unconcious state, the girl somehow still managed to hold onto her human feelings to be warm and to be comforted. And it was obvious that the girl seemed to be cold, as a set of shivers ran through her body again, clutching tighter to the boy's trenchcoat. These sudden actions were so unexpected it caused the girl to choke out a fit of giggles before coughing to silence it.

Mitsuru even smirked a little. "Ahem, yes. Good choice, Minato," she teased, very uncharacteristic of her. "So, we will meet here tonight to find the shadow's location. If no one has any further objections, then you may go for now. Just make sure that Arasawa has a place to rest."

* * *

><p><em>I hope you all enjoyed this chappie. ^^ Oh, so as to clear up any confusion, for the time being, Hamuko's only going to have Hua Po as a Persona. I figured two characters with the Wild Card ability would be a little too complicated. And, of course, chapter title time. "Ciere" simply means "evoke."<em>


	5. Paralyticus

_AN: Just a word to all of my reviewers. Thanks for your contributions; I really appreciate it. ^^ Just please bear with the timeline for the time being, as I have stated that it is AU. Therefore, time-based events are not necessarily in order and/or going to be used. New Full Moon shadows may be created, as well as new events that were not in the storyline. Since it is not a rewrite fic an is an AU fic, there will more than likely be MANY changes to the original storyline due to new characters, relationships, etc., so bear with me, dears. ^^; I promise I will keep it interesting; if it was the same storyline, you'd know what I was going to write next, wouldn't you? ;D So, without further ado, Chapter 5._

_P.S.- For those of you who were wondering about Hua Po and Alice's roles in the story... Well, it's becoming clearer soon. Ciao, bellas. xD_

_~Ami_

* * *

><p><em>That Night...<em>

* * *

><p>Shinjiro watched the clock in the bedroom as the time ticked closer and closer to midnight. He, Yukari, and Koromaru were sitting on the floor in Hamuko's room, listening to the sound of the unconscious girl's steady breathing. They had moved Hamuko earlier that morning after having to practically pry her off of Shinjiro's sleeve, and she had been here all day with no change in her condition. Her room was sparse and chilly, especially from their position on the floor. The small earpieces they all had were silent; the other two groups were still in the meeting discussing their plans, but contact would be established soon. They should be leaving any moment as the Dark Hour commenced.<p>

_3...2...1._

Right on his cue, the lights in Hamuko's room and those visible outside shut down. The face of the digital alarm clock went blank, replaced by the greenish light of the Dark Hour. It was bright tonight, almost as much as during the day. Koromaru growled softly at the change. "Relax," Shinjiro said, reassuringly patting the dog's head. "You too, Takeba. I don't think we'll see much action tonight."

Yukari sighed as she noticed the change. "Yeah, you're right, Shinji, but I just can't help thinking how hard it must be for Hamuko go through all of this right as she got here. Hopefully, we won't get dragged into it." She looked up at the sleeping girl, the girl responding by shivering again. "Hey, do we have any more blankets?"

Upstairs, Minato placed his headpiece into his ears and securely tapped it in. He rotated his one-handed sword, loosening his wrist, and checked to make sure his Evoker was in its holster. "Are you guys about ready?" he asked.

Akihiko tightened his gloves around the wrists. The honed spikes on the knuckles glinted dangerously. "I think so."

"I'm always ready!" Junpei announced, swinging his sword in a circle like a baseball bat. "Let's do it."

"I have already calculated the success rate of this mission," Aigis said as she checked some of the equipment for functionality. "In 9,500 of the 10,000 simulations I ran, you emerged victorious."

"9.5 out of 10. I like those odds," Akihiko smirked confidently.

Mitsuru glanced around at the group, before affirming her response. "I'm ready as well," she muttered, putting in an earpiece similar to all the rest. She glanced over at Ken, sitting in a chair and almost looking a little bit frightened. "You alright, Amada?"

Ken jerked up from his sitting position. "Y-Yeah, just a little tired, is all. I'm ready too," he responded.

Fuuka had already released her Persona, Lucia, and was closing her eyes in concentration. "I...I think I found it..." she muttered, focusing on the presence she had felt. Her eyes suddenly opened in realization. "I found it! It seems to be in... some closed warehouse just outside of the strip mall. That doesn't seem to be too hard to find."

Mitsuru, meanwhile, pressed the small button on her earpiece as she contacted the other group. "Takeba, Aragaki, can you read me?"

"Loud and clear, Mitsuru-senpai." Yukari watched as the girl rustled a little in her sleep, but then continued to calm down again. "Did you find the shadow?"

"Yes. Yamagishi has located it. We will let you all know once reach the destination. Let us know if anything else arises." And with that, the earpiece made a click sound to signal that the group was no longer contacting them for the time being.

Yukari sighed, resting her head on her hand as she looked out the window. "This might take a while.."

Listening to Hamuko's shivering was quickly becoming annoying. She had no other blankets in the room and leaving to find more was out of the question. Shinjiro reluctantly removed his coat and draped it over Hamuko. He was cold now, but he was far more used to it. Koromaru kept pacing around, moving from Takeba's side to Shinjiro's to Hamuko, repeating the cycle every few minutes. It was driving Shinjiro crazy, the endless repetition and ignorance to what was going on with the other groups.

"Alright, let's head out," Minato said. The strip mall was close by, a few minutes' walk from the dorm. The group stepped outside in the Dark Hour's eerie silence. Every footfall sounded like an avalanche to them, but after a short trip they found the warehouses. There was a large number of them, all packed tightly together in a close-knit pattern.

"Fuuka-tan," Junpei spoke worriedly into his earpiece. "Can you tell which warehouse it's in? We don't want to get ambushed searching them one-by-one."

Fuuka sighed as she continued to focus. "Just a minute..." she whispered. "It's that one. The thirteenth one down."

Back in the room, Hamuko instinctively clutched onto the recently placed coat, snuggling her face into it as her mind raced with thoughts and confusing emotions. She could tell she was unconcious, but her mind was still running at quite a speed.

As they approached the building, Mitsuru glanced back at the group. "Are you all ready?" she asked. After a moment of confirming everyone's response, the Senior led the way, opening the large door. As they walked inside, however, the situation spiraled into chaos. The huge set of double doors slammed behind them, electricity seeming to flow through its hinges.

"What's going on?" Mitsuru shouted as the pitch-black buildling's lights seemed to go haywire. "It's...affecting the electrical devices!" The lights stayed on for a few moments only to show the body of the huge shadow. It seemed to be composed of numerous lightning-bolt shaped parts, electricity coursing through its veins. Only catching glimpses was not enough to tell what it really looked like, or even begin to figure out its weaknesses. In a panic, the girl reached for her earpiece and contacted the other groups.

"Can you all hear me?"

Yukari seemed almost shocked at the tone of desperation in the girl's voice. "Y-Yes, Mitsuru-senpai!" she squeaked.

"We've arrived and...shadow...have...cannot...not sure... able... without..."

Yukari glanced at Shinjiro with widened eyes, before responding. "Mitsuru, we can't hear you! You're starting to cut out! Mitsuru! Mitsuru?"

On the other end, all the team heard was static, with the occasional muffled cry from Yukari until all went silent in the communication device. "We have to assess the situation, and quickly. We no longer have any source of communication. We need to focus on eliminating the shadow, and fast," Mitsuru quickly relayed as she could hear the shadow's cries on the other side of the warehouse.

Meanwhile, Yukari was tapping her earbud furiously, not hearing anything on the other side. She glanced up quickly as she saw Hamuko struggling out of the corner of her eye. "Hamuko-chan?" she warily asked, standing up and walking to her bedside. The girl was in a sweat, acting as though she was in the middle of a nightmare. Her body twisted and contorted as she whimpered from seeing some sort of vision in her comatose-state. Everything seemed like it was going wrong at once.

"Dammit!" Shinjiro exclaimed. He pulled the earpiece and hit it many times. It was completely dead. Confused and alert, Shinjiro leaped to his feet and rushed to Hamuko's bed. He grabbed her flailing hands and tightly pressed them to the mattress. "Yukari, help me hold Hamuko down so she doesn't hurt herself!"

The lights flashing on and off repeated, and Minato's eyes were starting to ache from the strain. "Stay together!" he ordered, his voice changing into one suited for a harsh command. "Don't move, let it come to us!"

"We're on our own...not cool, man, not cool!" Junpei's voice had a hint of panic behind it, his eyes wide with fear.

"Stay calm!" Akihiko yelled. "It's big, so there's not much place for it to move. Did anyone get a good look at it?"

"I didn't," Minato replied.

"Mitsuru, is there any way to re-establish contact with Fuuka, or are we really completely on our own?"

Mitsuru tapped on her earbud, hearing nothing but light static. "I'm sorry, Akihiko...we have lost all communication. We're on our own for this one." She tensed as she heard the crackling electricity. It was getting closer to them... The Senior braced herself, taking in her surroundings in the flashes of light. Glancing down, she realized in shock that the part of the warehouse floor they had stepped on had a bolted, metal plate attached to the floor. "We have to get off of this!" she shouted. "Everybody get bac-"

To the girl's horror, she was not quick enough to relay the message. The shadow had sent a pulse of electricity towards them, and, though it didn't hit them directly, was immediately attracted to the metal and had shocked them anyway. She grit her teeth as she felt the electricity traveling through her veins, eventually collapsing from the shock. Mitsuru staggered as she got up, frantically calling for the others. "Akihiko! Iori! Arisato!" She panted as she slowly regained the power to stand up straight on her feet again, muttering small curses as she felt the resounding pain. "Are you all okay?"

At that moment, Hamuko's eyes flew open, only to stare at Shinjiro's face. Pain coursed through her body as she flailed and fought the older teen. She struggled against him before he finally let her go, panting heavily. "Minato-kun!" she cried, suddenly jumping up from the bed and flying toward the door.

Yukari caught her arm, her eyes widened. "What's wrong! Hamuko, calm down, please! Stop!"

"But he's... he's..."

The girl had to fight hard to keep Hamuko from escaping. She looked back to Shinjiro, her eyes wide, almost as if asking for help. Yukari suddenly felt the strain on her arm completely dissipate as the girl collapsed near the door.

Hamuko sat with her eyes staring at the door, looking completely detached from everyone in the room. "They're...he's...going to die..." she whispered, seeming to lightly claw at the door. Her small fist then beat at the door, whimpering as she did so. "No...no...no..." How was she knowing what was going on? It was almost as if she could feel what Minato was feeling. How did she have this connection? Quieter than a whisper, a voice rang in her head amid the shocking pain she seemed to feel.

_"Go...save your other half... It is not your time yet, nor is it his."_

"I'm okay, I think..." Junpei said. His legs shook as he stood up, but he was fairly unharmed.

"I'm fine," Akihiko had fared better than the other three; only one of his legs was on the plate, so the extent of the shock was not as bad to him. "Minato?"

Unable to speak through the pain, Minato was silent as he assessed his problem. His legs were dead weight attached to his body, left temporarily paralyzed by the shock. "I...don't know..." he barely managed to whisper. "I'm not sure...if I can move much...but I can fight just fine...

Junpei was furious at the suggestion. "You idiot, that's suicide! Mitsuru-senpai, Minato can't fight like this." Junpei placed his friend's arm around his shoulder and slowly pulled him from the ground. Minato cringed with pain and his legs dangled helplessly underneath him. True fear was burning in Junpei's eyes; cut off from outside support and their combat leader down, the threat of death was quickly becoming a strong likelihood.

"Lemme go..." Minato gasped. "I'm fine, I'm going to fight."

Akihiko quickly led them away from the metal plate to take shelter in a small alcove of towering boxes. Minato was placed with his back against one of the towers, his senseless legs splayed in front of him. He did not like how pale Minato had become just from being moved a short distance. "Mitsuru, do we have any way to heal him?" Akihiko implored, hearing the Shadow roaring in triumph, unaware that its prey still lived.

"Who's going to die?" Shinjiro demanded, coming down to meet Hamuko on her level. His hands held her shoulders tightly again, keeping her steady. "You've got to tell us, Hamuko! Who's going to die? Minato? Aki and Mitsuru? Junpei? Yukari! Grab my axe, it's in the corner. I'm going out there, whether they like it or not!"

Mitsuru blindly walked over to Minato. "Are your legs in pain? Or numb?" she asked him. Grasping the Evoker from its holster on her leg, the girl held the object to her head and fired, releasing Penthesilea. "Diarama.." she whispered as her Persona seemed to shroud Minato with a bright light. The light died, however, after a few moments, and the Senior paused, out of breath. "I'm afraid that won't work. It will mask your pain, but your legs still won't function correctly."

Unfortunately for them, the shadow noticed the flash of light, and roared as it came crashing in that direction, flinging one arm out to its side and simultaneously knocking Mitsuru into the wall nearby. The girl cringed as she felt the pain explode throughout her body. Unable to speak, the Senior held her breath so that she would not attract its attention. She couldn't help but cough lightly, and felt a metallic taste in her mouth. Cursing herself for not being observant enough, the girl took a slow breath as she tried to compose herself. This pain was quite unbearable. She was still laying there in a crumpled heap on the floor.

Hamuko shrunk back and cringed again as she felt even more pain. Was this the ability of her Persona? To feel the pain of others and transmit it to her? But why did it pick Minato! Realization suddenly hit the girl. They had a special connection from the beginning.  
><em><br>"You'll understand what I mean in time. Don't ask your new friends about me, though... They won't have a clue." Pharos giggled, seeming to enjoy this moment. "Well, all except Minato. He's special like you."_

_Special like me...?_ The girl tried to stand, but as soon as her legs had extended fully, they collapsed beneath her. She furiously tried this a few more times until she fell into a pitiful heap on the floor, near hysterics. "M-Minato-kun... His legs... They..." she muttered, her eyes glazed over.

Yukari quickly did as Shinjiro said, but her insides were tearing themselves apart. Minato...what happened to him? Almost to the point of tears, she kneeled near the girl. "We have to go find them," she murmured. "Shinji's going to-"

"No! You _have_ to take me!" the previously timid girl suddenly barked. Her eyes seemed to burn into the two of them. "He might not make... _you just have to take me, okay!_ I don't know how this is happening," she sobbed, "but I can feel everything that he can!" She crawled closer to Shinjiro, her useless legs trailing the floor. "Somehow, I can see how everyone is faring...but I can actually _feel_ Minato's pain. And he's in trouble."

_Pharos watched over the girl from above, hiding his presence from the others. "Heehee, is this what you're doing, Alice? Torturing that poor girl by making her see the others' pain? However, it is not truly either of our faults that Minato and Hamuko share the pain. They are two sides of the same coin."_

"Minato's in real pain. So is Mitsuru-senpai," the girl choked out, relaying as much information as she could muster. "A-Akihiko-senpai is fine. Junpei-kun's alright too. But we have to hurry." Hamuko grasped Shinjiro's shirt, holding onto it tightly. "I-I don't know how I know all of this, but you guys just have to trust me. Please."

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><p><em>To Be Continued...<em>

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><p><em>Hope you all liked this chapter. If you're a little confused, that's okay, because it will all make sense soon. One of the main reasons I included the two main characters in this fic is so that they could share something; after all, they're polar opposites, but also mirrors of one another. That's a nice plot device to play around with, you know? xD Tell me what you think! =3 "Paralyticus" = "paralyzed."<em>


	6. Plenilunium

_AN: Longest chapter yet! ;D Hope you like; most intense chapter so far. Just a mild warning that there will be violence in this chapter, for anyone that is... weak of stomach. xD_

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><p>"Mitsuru!" Akihiko yelled. Panic shot across his face as the Shadow turned its attention to them and starting lumbering its way over. "Junpei, take Minato and run. I can hold him off for a while!"<p>

"But Akihiko-senpai-"

"Just go!" With quick, deft movements, Akihiko's Evoker was in his hand and he had summoned Polydeuces. He stood his ground, watching the Shadow approach him until it was in range. Polydeuces hovered over him, just as motionless as his master. Akihiko's fists tightened and he started swinging; Polydeuces mirrored his movements, hitting the Shadow with its powerful arms. The Shadow was undeterred and with one swipe knocked Polydeuces away. The next swipe missed Akihiko, but the third attempt found its mark. The teen was sent flying back and crashed painfully into a pile of boxes. Pieces of wood shattered around him and the wind was knocked of his lungs. He could feel something warm running down his temples through the dark haze threatening to overwhelm him. The Shadow moved closer to him and prepared to finish Akihiko off.

The Shadow suddenly gave a cry as it was hit in the side. It whirled to its attacker, furious and vengeful. Minato had summoned Orpheus, who had hit the enemy with its enormous harp and brought its attention from Akihiko. "Sorry, Junpei...I couldn't let it kill Akihiko-senpai..."

Without responding Junpei fled, dragging Minato the whole way. He could hear the Shadow following them, but it was slow, and they found shelter behind a group of tall crates. "What are we going to do?" Junpei demanded. "We can't kill that thing by ourselves."

Minato looked at his useless legs. The pain was gone, as Mitsuru had said, but now it felt like they weren't there at all. "No, we can't. But eventually the Shadow's going to catch on to our hiding game and find us, and then we'll have no choice but to fight. I hope Fuuka sends Ken and Aigis to us soon. She might have assumed danger since we lost contact and sent backup. I think Akihiko's okay, but I don't know how badly Mitsuru was hurt."

In a normal situation, Shinjiro would have ignored her. Even now he thought he probably should. But there was something in Hamuko's eyes that stopped him. He bit his lip until it bled, weighing pro against con, until finally he settled on a decision. "Fine, you can come." The words sounded harsh, but he was only considering her safety. "But you're not coming into any contact with the Shadow, and you're going to stay a safe distance away. Got that?"

Koromaru barked excitedly and took his knife in his teeth. Although none of the others could understand him, he had promised to stay with Hamuko at all times.

Hamuko inhaled and exhaled deeply as she stared into Shinjiro's eyes. She never answered his request. She knew she was going to get involved. Something inside was telling her that she had to save Minato. Herself. Her eyes widened as she saw once again the situation at the warehouse. "We've got to hurry," she urgently barked. "Akihiko-senpai, he's..." She squeezed her eyes shut as she thought that this last blow would kill him, but instead, felt an instant amount of relief as she realized that hit never came. "Akihiko-senpai, Mitsuru-senpai, and Minato-kun are all badly injured."

Yukari bit her lip. How could this be happening to them? Normally, these missions weren't that bad, but this shadow seemed to be immensely strong if it was destroying the entire group. "Right," she answered, sighing. "Shinji, you're going to have to carry her."

Hamuko struggled to stand once again, but realized that it was no use. "Damn it..." she whispered. "Minato's hardly able to even move."

Mitsuru cringed as she could hear the loud crash of Akihiko hitting the boxes. _This can't be happening... It can't end like this!_ she thought in disbelief. _The others must get here in time... please, please hurry._

Luckily for them, Ken and Aigis realized the danger that was the communication devices shorting out. Ken grabbed Aigis's arm, whimpering, "C-Come on. We have to follow them. The thirteenth warehouse near the Iwatodai strip mall."

As the young boy and the android raced to the warehouse, Aigis said, "It is going to be very dangerous. The enemy is much stronger than I calculated. Is Amada-kun prepared for battle?"

"C'mon," Shinjiro urged her. He pulled Hamuko onto his back, her legs on either side of his body and her head on his shoulder. Her weight didn't deter the taller teen much, and he slowly stood up to maintain his balance. "Takeba, when we get there, you go on healing duty. Koromaru, stay with Hamuko." He went down the stairs as quickly as possible without shaking Hamuko too much. They left the dorm and began the short walk to the station. Hamuko felt limp on his back, and Shinjiro wondered if he was doing the right thing by bringing her. She was obviously desperate and confident that she could help, but that could be the misinterpretations of an exhausted mind. It was too late to consider that, though, and they reached the warehouses undeterred. The group paused at the tenth warehouse. Shinjiro sat her down by the far way. "This is close enough. Koromaru is going to stay with you. Don't move at all." A loud crash emanated from the thirteenth warehouse as the Shadow toppled boxes with reckless abandon, searching for its prey. Shinjiro's face grew hard as the noise didn't stop.

Inside the warehouse, the Shadow had begun knocking everything it could get its claws on away. With the boxes eliminated, Junpei and Minato would be exposed with no place to hide. The teens were crouched near the far corner of the warehouse with no place to run. "It's coming, it's almost here," Junpei whispered. His hands shaking, he drew his Evoker from its holster. Minato did the same. "This is it, huh?"

"Looks like it," Minato agreed grimly. He put the Evoker to his head, his finger steady on the trigger. For one facing death, Minato was startlingly calm. "If either of us falls, just keep fighting."

Junpei gulped. "Yeah."

"L-Look!" Ken suddenly shouted, pointing at a small group over at the tenth warehouse. It was none other than Shinjiro, Yukari, and Hamuko, who was now awake, but battered-looking. "What are you guys doing here?" he shouted.

Hamuko jumped at the sound of the boy screaming. She sighed as she looked down at her partially-useless body. "This isn't good enough," she snarled at Shinjiro suddenly, fire in her eyes. "I said I wanted to be taken there."

Yukari glanced at Shinjiro worriedly. "What is she talking about, Shinji?"

Hamuko gritted her teeth, pushing herself to her own limits as, shockingly, she stood. "I...I can feel all of Minato's pain... but his injuries... do not... affect me as badly," she panted, glancing at the two with alert, though exhausted, eyes. Without warning, the girl lunged at Yukari, deftly grasping the Evoker from her holster and placing it to her head. Effortlessly, the girl pulled the trigger, summoning Hua Po with no hesitation. "I'm sorry, Yukari-chan," she gasped, throwing her weapon back to her. "And, Shinjiro," she muttered, glaring at him. "Even think about getting in my way and I will never forgive you. I don't care if you want me to be safe." It was very uncharacteristic for her to say such words, but her fury was getting in the way of her speech.

Yukari caught her Evoker, unable to say anything at first to the girl that had just gotten herself up. "Hamuko-chan, you can't do this. You're not able to-"

"Shut up, Yukari!" she cried, tears resting on her eyelids. She turned from her and started to walk unsteadily toward the building.

The girl caught her arm, desperate to keep this girl from walking to her death. "Hamuko, you can't just throw yourself in there! There's a powerful creature called a shadow in there, and it will kill you if you're not careful!"

Hamuko flipped her head around to stare at Yukari, before muttering through her gritted teeth. "Hua Po... help me."

Yukari jerked her arm back. Her hand felt like it was absolutely on fire. Cringing as the pain subsided, the girl looked up only to see Hamuko now running toward the warehouse. "No! Stop it! Don't go in there!"

She wouldn't listen. The girl was about to reach for the door handle when she realized that the entire door was sparking. Cursing, the girl tried to look for another way to get in. She could break down part of the wall... No, that would be too dangerous. Noticing a window nearby, the girl jumped, attempting to reach it. Hamuko was about to start climbing on a crate nearby to reach it before she realized that something was pulling her off the ground. Her Persona... was carrying her? She felt the fairy's small hands grasp onto her sweater and pull her up as she unlatched the window, throwing it up in the air. With one swift move, Hamuko and Hua Po slid into the gap and disappeared into the warehouse.

"Tch!" Shinjiro growled, running towards the warehouse. He grabbed the door handle but pulled back, cursing as he received a slight shock up his arm. "Is there any other way to get in here?"

Aigis' head tilted as she processed his request. "I am capable of creating an entrance through the wall. However, the Shadow's presence is negatively affecting my sensors. I cannot sense the bodies of those in the warehouse, so to create an entrance may harm them if they are in the way."

"Damn!" The way Aigis used the word "bodies" did not settle well with Shinjiro, and his fear for those inside the warehouse increased twofold. "Circle the building and look for a way in!"

With his Evoker to his head, Minato's breath came heavy and fearful. He saw something out of the corner of his eye and could hear a familiar humming sound, as of wings beating at the air. "What-"

"-the hell?" Junpei finished. Fluttering in through a window, Hamuko's Persona was ferrying her through the air. He hadn't even thought that the tiny pixie was capable of holding anything larger than her, but Hua Po seemed unaffected by her cargo. "H-Hamu-tan?" Junpei stuttered in shock. "Why are you here? Did something happen to everyone at the dorm?"

Before she had a chance to respond, the Shadow was towering over them, its arm raised to attack. There was a loud cracking sound as two Persona appealed simultaneously: Hermes and Orpheus. Hermes looked like a harmless bug compared to the immensity of the Shadow, and Orpheus wasn't much better.

Hamuko tried to land carefully on the ground, but her legs instead gave out on her, collapsing. The girl breathed heavily, trying to compose herself. "I guess I even have limits now," she whispered to herself. "M-Minato-kun, Junpei-kun," she muttered, almost relieved at the fact that the two were still alive. Her expression completely changed however, as she looked at what they were staring at in fear. Her heart stopped as she gazed upon the most terrifying creature she had ever seen in her life. Involuntarily, the girl screamed as she backed away into the wall, cowering with the rest of them. This seemed to only infuriate the shadow. Its large hand suddenly transformed its previously large fingers into sharp, spiked ones. Taking a large swipe, the shadow bat Hua Po out of the air as if it was a harmless fly. Seeing her Persona crash into the wall made Hamuko cry out in horror and pain as she seemed to feel as it did. She gazed at her Persona as it tried to get up, it's small arms shaking with the effort of doing so. "Hua Po..." she murmured, still on the verge of tears.

Mitsuru's heart skipped a beat as she heard Hamuko's voice. Unable to see her, the girl cried out, "Arasawa! You have to get out of here, now! Leave us here, we can handle it!"

Hamuko closed her eyes, ignoring the girl's pleas. She could just barely see Minato sitting near her in the darkness. Staggering to get up, but only making it to her knees, she slowly moved closer to him while still keeping an eye on the shadow.  
><em><br>"You have to hurry. If you don't think fast, Minato-kun will die." _

This voice... it sounded so familiar to her. Cringing, the girl glanced up at the shadow. How was she supposed to kill that thing herself!  
><em><br>"Oh, don't worry. You will have help... Just, at all costs, you must save your other half. Even if it means risking your own life. If you fail, you both will die. Because, of course, if one side of the coin is gone, the other cannot stay."_

"My own life..?" she whispered in confusion. Her eyes grew huge as she realized that the shadow was no longer distracted by Hua Po, and was now coming for them. "D-Damn it..." she muttered. "What am I supposed to do?"  
><em><br>"Save him. Time is up."_

Hamuko watched in horror as the beast lifted up its spiked hand again, waiting to strike. Realizing in despair what she had to do, the girl got closer to Minato as its hand was beginning to swing down at them. Unfortunately for her, her assumptions were correct. The shadow was swinging directly at Minato, planning to taking him out with one more blow. She took a deep breath, accepting her fate. The next few seconds seemed to go by as slow as an hour. Hamuko rolled directly in front of Minato, holding her arms out as she screamed in defiance. It took a few moments before she realized that the monster had completely impaled her through the middle, the tip of its finger only inches from Minato's nose. Hamuko cringed as the shadow pulled out its enormous claw, roaring in triumph as it realized that one of them was out of the way. She looked down at the large wound in her middle, and almost smiled at what she just did. She just saved someone that she had just met _just_ because a voice had told her to do so. Unable to hold up her body any longer, the girl collapsed forward onto the hard floor.  
><em><br>"Alice? Are you ready? I think we can take this one out with just us. Or, at least damage it enough to the point where the others can finish it off. Remember... don't hurt the girl too much. She's already reached her limit. Of course, as long as you don't kill her, I think the others will be satisfied."_

Hamuko's vision was starting to go black, but something changed inside of her. She wasn't...controlling her body anymore... Hua Po suddenly shrieked as it began to change again. In a huge flash of light that illuminated the entire warehouse, the Persona changed into none other than Alice. The young girl whimpered for a moment, feeling pain at the sudden change, before she suddenly grew silent. Deathly silent. Almost hovering, Hamuko stood up, wobbling slightly before gaining her balance. Alice had now illuminated the entire room with a ghastly green-ish white light. The brunette looked back at Minato, cocking her head slightly, almost as if she was waiting for a "thank you" from him. The real Hamuko was no longer there. Alice was controlling her, like a puppet on strings. Her eyes looked soulless and quite disturbing, and Hamuko had an unsettling half-smile on her face. The girl's head turned back around as she stared at the illuminated beast in dead silence. Seamlessly, the girl raised her arm and pointed a slim, tiny finger at the shadow. Alice, now hovering over the girl, giggled lightly before gazing at the shadow. Her voice was hushed and pleading, as if she was begging for something.

"Won't you die for me... please?" it asked, smiling sweetly. The shadow cried out in pain as it was instantly impaled by hundred of lances decorated with insignias from playing cards. "Heeheehee. Off with his head," Alice giggled as Hamuko mimed her, dragging her own finger across her throat silently, her dead-looking eyes boring into the creature. Just as expected, the shadow's enormous head was completely severed off by a large sword decorated with hearts and checkered patterns. The Persona giggled in an almost insane way before she disappeared in a shroud of light. Merely seconds after, the huge shadow exploded and the lights returned to normal. No longer controlled by the demented Persona, Hamuko wobbled for a moment, unsure of what just happened. She touched her stomach gingerly and she gazed at her now blood-stained fingers. _...This is it, then._ Hamuko staggered one last time before completely collapsing to the ground, her vision beginning to fog up with pain.

Shinjiro paused near the back of the warehouse, having circled it multiple times. He could hear unnerving slicing sounds, and inhuman screeches of pain, then utter silence.

"The source of power has disappeared," Aigis said from behind him. "My sensors are returning to normal."

Rushing back towards the front door, Shinjiro's ear caught something interesting, or rather the lack of it. Previously the door had been humming, supercharged with electricity, warning people to stay away. The noise was gone. Tentatively he touched the handle and grabbed onto it when no shock occurred. With a herculean, adrenaline-fueled effort, Shinjiro slid the enormous door back. It groaned, fighting his efforts, but eventually gave way.

His breath caught, stemming his long list of expletives in his throat. The warehouse was trashed. Splinters of woods coated the floor. Covering that was the black, gooey substance that made up a Shadow. Akihiko was slowly and painfully emerging from the pile of rubble, holding his bleeding head. Mitsuru was still crumpled in a heap, but conscious. Near the very back was Minato, Junpei, and Hamuko. Junpei had fallen to his hands and knees, staring at the floor and looking green, and Minato was dragging himself towards Hamuko's limp body.

Minato panicked as the door slid open, expecting another Shadow to come bursting through the doors. But it was Shinjiro, Yukari, Koromaru, Aigis, and Ken who greeted his eyes. His face broke out in relief but it quickly turned back to panic as something slid down his face. He pressed his fingers to the warm liquid and realized it was blood. Hamuko's blood. He and Junpei both were splattered with it. Minato's stomach churned as Junpei violently gagged not far away. He could feel Hamuko's energy fading as quickly as the blood was staining her shirt. "Guys, get over here, now!" he begged, resting Hamuko as best as he could on the ground. Minato took off his jacket and dragged his body over to her, pressing as hard as he could on her wound. An ominous puddle was gathering underneath her lifeless body. "Aigis, Yukari, anyone!" He hoped against hope that she was fully unconscious.

Akihiko limped as quickly as he could, his eyes wide. He too removed his red vest and pressed it to her midsection as Minato's jacket was quickly becoming useless against the blood flow. He summoned Polydeuces. "Dia," he whispered, a small trace of whatever energy he still had leaving him. A green glow surrounded Hamuko the Persona as the spell was cast, but the wound was untouched. "No, no, no!"

_This can't be happening! I let her go, I let her go, dammit! _Another scene was flashing in Shinjiro's mind as he sprinted to the group. Losing control...the woman falling in front of his eyes...the brief eye contact between them as she departed from life. Only this time he could've stopped it, could've forced Hamuko to stay behind. And now she lay dying, another life wasted because of him.

Aigis was very close behind, trying to get a read on everyone's conditions. Akihiko likely had a minor concussion and some wounds and bruises, but he was whole, as was Mitsuru. Minato's legs were limp, but the feeling would be returning to them soon. The contents of Junpei's stomach were threatening to make a comeback, but he was unharmed. Hamuko's vitals, however, were spiking frighteningly, and she seemed to be going into the first stages of shock. "Spells will not aid her condition. She should be taken to a hospital."

"It's the middle of the Dark Hour!" Shinjiro screamed, any semblance of control vanishing. "There's no hospital to be found, and she'll be dead by the time we can get her to one!"

"She saved us," Junpei rasped hoarsely. He wiped his mouth with shaky hands. "She saved us..." He repeated the statement over and over like a crazy person, as if he could convince himself that the scene in front of him was an illusion. He could look away as long as he wanted, but he knew that this was the stark reality.

Hamuko's eyelids fluttered for a moment. The mass of voices together all seemed to mix and mash together, becoming a useless string of sound. Her vision focused for only a moment as she saw Akihiko and Minato hovering over her. Smiling, a tear escaped from her eye as she grabbed onto Minato's hand weakly with hers. "I...saved you Minato-kun," she whispered. She gazed frantically around for a moment, making sure that everyone was alive and still safe. To her relief, everyone was there, watching her like she was gold. She felt a sense of belonging, even though she had just joined the group. The girl glanced at Shinjiro, and almost smirked at him. "Told you I would save him, Shinji," she murmured. Her eyelids began fluttering again, starting to slip in and out of consciousness. Maybe...this wasn't so bad. If she died, she knew she did so protecting someone that had concern for many others. He was a hero. She saved the hero. Did that mean that she was a hero, too?

Mitsuru watched over the girl, biting her lip. Realizing that the devices would work once again, the girl tapped into hers and contacted the Chairman. "Ikutsuki," she hoarsely whispered. "The...shadow is gone. But Arasawa is fatally injured. Yes, we originally had her in the dorm, but she somehow got here and-" She glared at Shinjiro and Yukari for a moment, obviously blaming them in her mind. "I understand," she finished, before pressing the button on her communicator. "The Chairman will be here momentarily. He should be able to assess the problem, and with luck, be able to save her. As for now... all we can do is hope that she will be alright."

Yukari's mouth was completely dry as she looked at the girl. This was...her fault, too. Tears welling up in her eyes, she murmured to the others, "I can't believe it. I just can't. How did she even..." The girl choked on her words. She couldn't even bear to speak.

Hamuko shivered again. She felt a sharp pain in her stomach as she did so, and reached down to try to fix it herself.

"No, Hamuko-chan! Don't touch it!" Yukari murmured urgently.

She winced as she withdrew from the wound, still grasping onto Minato's hand as if it was her lifeline. Blood from her hand began to stain his, but all she cared about was not letting go. He _was_ her lifeline. They were...two sides of the same coin. The boy said that they were both special. That had to mean something. She swallowed hard as she struggled to fight off the pain that was searing through her. She almost wished that her body would succumb and she could sleep again. But...she might not wake up if she did.

Noticing Mitsuru's look, Shinjiro glared back. "If you're going to blame anyone, blame me." He was the leader of the group, and therefore responsible for what had gone wrong.

Feeling Hamuko's blood running down his wrist, Minato held onto her hand tighter. Her grip was starting to loosen, and Minato grasped harder to make up the difference. "You're going to make it, I know you are," he assured her, even though he wasn't convinced himself. "Keep your eyes open. We're all here."

Junpei shuffled over, completing the group. "C'mon, you gotta stick around. I was going to offer you some private lessons," he laughed weakly. It was an old joke, one he had pulled with Fuuka, and the timing was completely inappropriate, but nobody else really seemed to notice.

Her eyes glazing over again, the girl shook her head weakly as she murmured, "N-No, Shinji, it wasn't your fault. It was mine. I purposely evaded you two, and I-" A small cough suddenly interrupted her speech as she used her free hand to put it to her mouth. Pulling it back, she realized that fresh blood was now settling in her palm. "D-Damn it..." she muttered bitterly. "I really did myself in, didn't I?"

Yukari wiped her tears away with her sleeve, glancing at all the others in despair.

"...The Chairman is almost here," Mitsuru suddenly stated as she heard the man speak back into the earpiece. She breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that the girl might just make it.

The young Ken Amada held his breath as he could hardly take in the scene with his weak stomach. He had never seen such blood-spattered wreckage before. But the more he looked at the girl lying on the ground, the more it reminded him of his own mother. His stomach twisted and turned as he realized he was reliving the nightmare.

"And, Junpei," Hamuko whispered, fighting internally the spasms of pain that seemed to pulse through her every few moments, "That sounds nice." The girl smiled, and even though she couldn't let out a giggle, it instead surfaced itself as a small, happy tear resting on her cheek.

The whole group nearly jumped out of their skin as they could hear the huge warehouse door creak as it opened again. None other than the Chairman, as well as Fuuka, had appeared and were rushing over to the group.

The blue-haired girl suddenly stopped in her tracks as she saw the complete destruction of the building. Her eyes widened and her stomach dropped in horror as she could just barely see Hamuko's body from among the mass of people standing around her. Pushing her way through, the girl got a good look at the injured girl before completely bursting out in tears, her sensitive personality getting the better of her. "Oh, no!" she cried, backing away from her and sobbing into her sleeves.

_Don't feel sorry for me,_ Hamuko thought, almost seeming to pity the girl that was crying for her own mangled body. _I'll still live...won't I?_

Aigis stiffened as Hamuko's health took another dive. The calculations being fed to her were not positive at all. "The-"

Shinjiro shook his head, stopping her mid-sentence. He couldn't understand why she was being so peaceful about her situation. To meet someone only hours before, then save them but cause her own death? It was madness. But he felt like he understood her, in a way. He would put down his own well-being for anyone in this room, and he was confident that they would do the same. It was tragic that it had to come to this to make that realization.

"Ikutsuki-san," Minato said, relieved as the Chairman came into view. "What are we going to do?" _Please don't let it be too late. _

Ikutsuki gazed at the girl. With one swift movement of his arm, the man motioned for the others to step back as he knelt beside her.

Hamuko jerked slightly as she still clutched onto Minato's hand, not wanting to let go.

"Minato, please stay beside her. She may get upset if you leave."

Unaffected by the blood seeping onto the fabric of his pants, the Chairman sighed as he felt the girl's head. He pulled it back quickly as he realized that it was not, in fact, scalding hot, but freezing cold instead. She had already lost so much blood. He hoped that it was not too late to assess the situation. Taking off his jacket, the man removed Akihiko's vest and instead replaced it with his own article of clothing. "Firstly, her Persona seems to be making her condition worse. I assume that the _other_Persona took over," he concluded from her small, unprovoked spasms of pain.

Mitsuru glanced at the Chairman. "So, how will you remedy this situation?"

Ikutsuki looked back at her seriously, before focusing his attention on Hamuko. Pulling out a small bag from his pocket, the man took out a small pill and held it up to the girl. "Hamuko, do you think you can swallow this? It will help suppress your Persona for a while. It is affecting you negatively."

Hamuko nodded carefully, her eyes squinting in pain. She gratefully accepted the medicine, swallowing it with hardly any difficulty. The results were almost instantaneous. The struggle that was occurring inside of her seemed to flare up for a moment, and then start to die off as she felt her Persona becoming distant. Hamuko shuddered, causing her entire body to erupt in shivers, before finally calming down, her eyes closing in acceptance.

Ikutsuki stared at her, watching her struggling body return to its previous condition. "Mitsuru, Fuuka has some bandages that we brought. We're going to have to wrap her wound thoroughly, and once we are done, take her back to the dorm so that we can keep her warm."

Fuuka carefully handed the bandages to Mitsuru, wiping her face on her sleeve.

Wordlessly, the Chairman rolled up the girl's sweater, exposing her lower abdomen where the wound was located. "This may hurt a bit, but we're just wrapping the wound tightly enough to stop the blood flow."

Hamuko cringed as she felt both Mitsuru and the Chairman simultaneously lifting her limp body up and wrapping bandages around her middle. She watched with glazed eyes as Ikutsuki finished the wrapping, tying the ends in a neat knot.

"There," he puffed, looking exceptionally tired. His eyes grew wider as he glanced at Hamuko. The medicine appeared to make her look much more gaunt, and she was still losing blood. Her eyes were dangerously close to closing.

Hamuko stared at Ikutsuki, her face puzzled. "Ikutsuki-san, will I be...alright?" she whispered, the pill she had taken seeming to affect her concentration and thought process.

"You will be," he stated, somewhat unconfidently.

She seemed to accept this statement in a naive manner, not really knowing how close she was to death. "I'm just glad.. I did the right thing..." she choked, her eyelids fluttering. "I knew I had to save him... He would have died.." She seemed completely confident in that statement. It was almost as if her soul was speaking to her. She knew her fate; she knew she had to protect him. "I hope... I will be alright..." she whimpered, crying silently once more. "I have never felt...so welcomed... so loved before... I..-"

Mitsuru held her breath as she watched the girl's limp hand drop from Minato's as she closed her eyes, breathing deeply. This couldn't be it. She couldn't die. But it seemed like there wasn't any hope. "Arasawa?" she questioned. When no response came, the girl beat her hand on the metal side of the warehouse, creating a resounding "clang" sound. "Damn it..." she whispered.

Minato felt at Hamuko's neck with bloodied fingers. "She's breathing. Shallowly, but it's there." To his surprise the feeling in his legs was starting to slowly return, but they could've been hacked off at the knees for all he cared.

His eyes glassy with shock, Shinjiro turned a glare as poisonous as cyanide to the Chairman. He stood defiantly, eye to eye with Ikutsuki. "I can't believe you just did that. Are you insane?"

Junpei looked wildly between them. "What are you talking about? He just saved her life!"

"He might have just doomed her."

"Stop." Minato's voice was gravelly and cold. His head was starting to get light with exhaustion and a severe sense of vertigo was making him nauseous. The reek of blood wasn't helping much. "You can argue about that later. It doesn't matter now. We need to get her to a hospital or somewhere right now."

"Aragaki," the Chairman barked, staring right back at the teen. "If I wouldn't have suppressed her Persona, she could have _died_. I wasn't going to tell you all that, but that demented Persona you all saw earlier was _killing _her from the inside. I've only heard of a few cases of this; the condition is extremely rare. That Persona only seems to reveal itself when Arasawa is in extreme pain or danger."

Mitsuru glanced at Ikutsuki with wide eyes. She let out a large breath, remembering that she was still alive and well. But this girl... she was about as close to dying as one could get. She was still hanging on, if only by a thread. "I believe if we take her to the hospital, once the Dark Hour is ov-"

The entire group looked out the huge sets of doors as they saw the lighting drastically change from sickly green to the usual whitish light of the moon. Fuuka gasped aloud, voicing everyone's thoughts. The hour was finally over.

Mitsuru sighed in relief. "Thank God," she whispered. "Now, as Arisato had said, we need to take Arasawa to the hospital, and quickly."

Ikutsuki, still watching Shinjiro carefully in his sudden fit of anger, turned to the group. "Right. We all need to get going. Now, just because you are all not in her condition, does not mean you can get away with not having your own injuries examined. Mitsuru, you look absolutely winded, and judging by the looks of your hand, it seems like you were coughing up blood."

The Senior looked down, almost in shame at being overwhelmed so easily. "Akihiko, you appear to have a head injury. Flesh wound or not, it still needs to be examined. And you, Minato..." He gazed down at the boy's still-limp legs. "He cannot walk, can he?"

"No," Mitsuru responded for him.

"Shinjiro, help him walk. We will all be able to arrive there shortly if we hurry. Remember, a life is on the line here. If we do not hurry, she might not make it," he admitted truthfully.

Cold as steel, Shinjiro took Minato's arm and pulled him up to his shoulder level. With Junpei on the other side, they raised Minato from the ground. Minato's legs, though still with traces of the numbness leaving, dragged pitifully.

Reluctant to leave Hamuko's side, Minato struggled at first. "Don't worry about me!" he spat. "I'm fine, take her first!"

"We're taking you both, so shut up," Junpei said, a little meaner than he intended. "The Dark Hour's over, so does anybody have their phone? We can't take her to the hospital. She won't handle being moved very far."

Minato tapped him on the shoulder. "I do. My front pocket, your side, Junpei."

Junpei retrieved it and called 119. "What kind of excuse do we pull on the doctors this time?" he asked as the phone started ringing.

Akihiko held his sleeve to stem the wound on his forehead and examined the blood staining the white fabric. To his relief, the amount was lessening. His head was spinning slightly, though. Mentally he counted up the injured: Hamuko, the worst and most difficult to explain; Mitsuru, who would probably only need to be looked at and wouldn't require much medical attention; Akihiko himself, whose injuries extended maybe as far as a slight concussion; and Minato, whose leg numbness should wear off without any complications. "Move her just far enough away from the warehouse and close the door so that it won't raised suspicion. Tell the EMT that...she got hit by a car. Hit and run, no one saw the vehicle. We were all hanging out nearby and heard her get hit. Stick to that." It was a weak story at best, but it would have to suffice. Hopefully the emergency team wouldn't ask too many questions. "The rest of us should get checked out at different times so they don't ask questions."

"Um, a girl got hit by a car down here...no, we didn't see the vehicle...by the warehouses at Iwatodai Station. Number 13. Thanks, and please hurry." Junpei pressed the End button and returned the phone to Minato. "An ambulance is on its way."

Ikutsuki and Mitsuru assisted Hamuko outside of the warehouse. The Senior ducked back in as soon as her job was done, not wanting to be seen by the EMTs. Yukari approached her as she reentered.

"I want to go with her."

Fuuka quickly trotted up beside her, shaking her head. "No, you need to stay here and help to try to heal everyone. I'll go with her."

Mitsuru grimaced, looking sadly at Yukari. "She's got a point. Don't worry, the Chairman will be going with her also."

The blue-haired girl exited the warehouse, approaching Ikutsuki. "Mr. Chairman, may I-"

"Yes," the man responded, instantly knowing her question. "Just be careful as to how you answer questions." He looked much older to Fuuka at this point; all of the stress of possibly losing a new member of SEES was getting to him.

Fuuka nodded in agreement. "Of course." Sure enough, within the next few moments, they could see the flashing lights of the ambulance as it raced to them.

A group of three men jumped out of the vehicle, bringing various medical equipment. One knelt down beside her for a moments, before calling out, "Her blood pressure is spiking dangerously! She appears to have a large puncture wound and.." The medic paused for a moment, looking positively confused. "Entry and exit wounds... Ballistic trauma? I was told that this was a hit and run!" he shouted, gazing at Ikutsuki and Fuuka. He turned back, however, and continued his work. "She's lost a lot of blood, her face is completely white. She still has a pulse. Someone get the stretcher!"

Within just a few moments, the crew had already transported Hamuko into the ambulance. Fuuka and Ikutsuki ran up to them. "Can we go with you please?" Fuuka pleaded, glancing back at Ikutsuki.

The man patted the girl's head in a fatherly way. "Please. I take care of that child myself. She has no parents, so I am her closest link. I need to make sure that she's alright," he muttered sadly.

"Very well," the medic answered as the two jumped into the back of the vehicle, leaving the rest of the group behind. _Be careful,_ Ikutsuki thought as he watched the emergency crew swarm Hamuko, machines beeping and the steady beat of her heart being heard as slow, monotone blips.

* * *

><p><em>Writing this made me a smidgen sad, actually. xDDD Ah, well. Hope you enjoyed! My favorite title so far, "Plenilunium," means "of or related to the full moon."<em>


	7. Sanitatem

_AN: I hoped you all enjoyed the last chapter. ^^ This one's a bit longer, too. Ah well. Enjoy! -heart-_

_~Ami_

* * *

><p><em>The Next Day...<em>

* * *

><p>Minato hated hospital rooms.<p>

They smelled like antiseptic and disinfectant. Loud beeping, calls for doctors over the intercom, and a general air of sickness made him hugely uncomfortable. Every muscle was fidgeting, his leg tapping a dull metronome on the linoleum floor, his hands wringing. They had arrived earlier at the hospital, just after midnight. They were doing their best to hide their injuries; Akihiko had finally been convinced that he needed to have himself examined. He came back a short while later, confirming a mild concussion, but nothing more.

They had had to leave for school earlier that morning, but immediately after they'd met as a group and returned to the hospital. Rumors were already breeding in the school; it hadn't taken long for news of the new girl getting hit by a car to spread like wildfire.

They waited outside Hamuko's room now for some indication of improvement. The ICU permitted only one visitor at a time to her room. The doctor had been bluntly honest with them. "Her chances aren't great," he had said grimly. "She's lost a lot of blood and sustained a lot of physical damage. She's stable for now, but still critical."

With nothing to do but wait, Akihiko had started dozing in his chair. He had barely managed to stay awake in school, and he was making up for it here.

Shinjiro too was exhausted, but he had rested a little at the dorm that day. His face was hard to read. A mixture of concern and anger was most prevalent among the other emotions clouding his expression. Particularly on his mind was the pill the Chairman had given Hamuko. Rage surged through him whenever he thought of it.

Hamuko could almost hear the swarm of voices that had spoken during her unconsciousness. Unfamiliar voices... sad voices of her new friends... was this all... a dream? A heavy, tight pain was felt in the girl's abdomen. Wait, felt? She could feel now. That means...

The girl's eyelids slowly rose up, feeling as though they were each weighing a thousand pounds. She squinted as the bright light irritated her sensitive eyes. Hamuko noticed that she was now in a hospital room. Bright white lights... uncomfortable atmosphere.. what had happened to her?

Suddenly recalling the events back in a flash of memory, the girl's eyelids flew completely open, and she began to sit up in shock before a hand kept her from rising. She gazed down at the hand, and followed it back up to none other than Ikutsuki.

"Don't do that, Hamuko," he murmured, giving her a sad smile. "I'm glad your awake. You had all of us worried sick. Do you...remember what happened?"

Swallowing with much difficulty, the girl muttered, "Yes," under her breath. She wished she couldn't remember. Suddenly realizing what her point was in doing the ridiculously careless actions before, she glanced at the man with pleading eyes. "C-Can I talk to Minato-kun? I-Is he here? W-What time is it?"

"Calm down," he assured her. "If you work yourself up too much, you're going to reopen your wound. Minato is here. He's in the waiting room. I'm sure he'd be happy to talk to you."

With that, the man stood up and walked out of the room. Hamuko sighed, getting upset at what she had done. She was almost regretting it now. Who knows how long it would take for her to be able to go to school and have fun with everyone? She almost felt like a test experiment, connected to all sorts of machines by wires. The only body part she could really move without yanking something out was her head. The paralyzing feeling to her was not appreciated.

"Minato-kun." Ikutsuki was now standing in the waiting room, almost smirking. "I do believe you have a pretty girl that wants to talk to you in the other room." His face grew serious. "But don't get her too upset or confused yet. Don't tell her anything that she would find uncomfortable. Especially not about last night. Just bringing it up, she got very stir-crazy." The man looked so tired that it could be assumed that he didn't get any sleep either. He collapsed into the chair next to Shinjiro, before giving him a knowing look. He was still thinking about the suppressant that he gave to Hamuko. Sighing lightly, the man sunk into his chair, not saying anything to the kid for the time being.

"She's awake? Already?" There was a loud sigh of relief from the entire party, but Minato especially. He rose, straightened his school uniform, and walked into Hamuko's room. She was rigged to ugly machines tracking every change in her body and keeping detailed records on her condition. The room felt cold and dreary, but then again, it was an ICU. Decoration was not its main priority. Minato sat into the lone chair near her bed and gave her a weak smile. "You've finally decided to join us, huh?" he asked rhetorically. "Everyone's outside on pins and needles, and you want to talk to me out of all of them? You really must not be feeling well."

The Chairman's restrictions were really making it difficult to hold a conversation. So many questions on his mind that Minato wanted to ask her that he couldn't out of fear of distressing her. They would have to wait, and the things he did say he would carefully filter. "The doctors said that you're okay enough to talk, but not for very long, and only one person at a time."

Hamuko almost strained her head to stare at him, relief flooding through her body. So...she did save his life, after all. "I saved you.." she repeated again, smirking. Her expression changed however, checking to make sure the door was closed. "Get closer, I need to tell you something."

The young girl carefully reached out and grabbed the boy's hand, making sure not to pull any of the wires attached to her wrist. "Minato..." she whispered, obviously uncomfortable with what she was saying. "I somehow...knew you were in danger. I woke up in my room with Shinjiro and Yukari. They seemed panicked, but I was the worst out of all of them. I felt like I was going insane.. Your legs, Minato. You hurt them, didn't you? As soon as I could sense that you were all in danger, I collapsed to the floor. I could hardly stand." She almost looked terrified. One of the machines beeped angrily at her, and she took a deep breath, calming her self down somewhat. "I haven't told anyone about this yet. But, the fact that we're the only two that could see that boy... I feel a very strange connection with you. And..well... voices confirmed it."

Hamuko groaned, feeling her stomach tightening up. "You probably think I _am_ insane. But I could hear him, I really could! That boy...was telling me... that I had to save you..." she murmured. "So I did." She widened her eyes for a moment, looking around frantically. "Is everyone else alright? Did they make it out okay?"

"They're all just fine," Minato assured her. "None of them were hurt badly, but mentally we're all exhausted. Shinjiro's been taking it pretty hard, he thinks it's his fault because he didn't stop you. But you're alive, we all are. My legs are okay. They got zapped and I couldn't move them, but they had healed by this morning."

He cleared his throat, ready to tackle the darker issue at hand. "As for the kid...yes, I know him. When you said you saw him the other night, I had hoped it was just a hallucination. People new to the Dark Hour tend to be unpredictable. Until your other Persona was summoned in the meeting room yesterday, I told myself that that was the case. The Death Arcana is heavily associated with the Dark Hour. When I first summoned Orpheus, a similar thing happened. A much stronger Persona took over momentarily. The fact that there's only two of us that that happened to can't be a coincidence. You're not crazy at all, unless we both are, which honestly wouldn't surprise me given everything that's happened."

The girl sighed for a moment, sinking further into the bed. When Shinjiro's name came up, the girl's eyes narrowed. "Tch," she muttered, her mood suddenly changing. "Knowing his volatile personality, he's going to end up getting mad at me for what I did. I don't even care anymore." Her eyes looked dull and exhausted. "I hardly even understood half of what was going on last night. Persona.. Dark Hour... Death Arcana... This better make more sense to me if I stay with you guys." She glanced over at the blinking machines that seemed to be carrying her life. How did this happen to her? At her age, everyone seemed invincible. But one false move and she was put into the ICU. However, she was not like other kids. She had some kind of amazing power that she never knew she possessed.

"Minato-kun," she started, glancing at him, "Can you bring Shinjiro in here? I know the whole 'one-at-a-time' bit, and I'm not trying to push you off, but... if he's been taking it so badly, I feel like I need to talk to him." She didn't seem sympathetic. She merely wanted to find out more about him. She could actually see the expression on his face as Ikutsuki had given her that medicine. It was...scared? Terrified? Angry?  
><em><br>__"He might have just doomed her."__  
><em>  
>She could hear the boy's voice ringing in her memory, singling out that foggy sentence from the millions of others that ran through her semi-conscious mind. What did he even mean by that?<p>

Minato frowned, unsure of what to make of her request. "Sure, I'll bring him in."

He stood from the chair and left her bedside. Pausing momentarily before the door, he turned to face Hamuko. "Don't think he's a bad person. He's not at all. He's rough around the edges, but he's got a strong sense of right and wrong. So don't grill him too bad, okay?"

Minato met the group outside the room. "She's alert, but tired. She's asking about all of you, but she wants to see you, Shinjiro-senpai."

Visibly taken aback by the request, Shinjiro answered, "Why me?"

"I'm not sure," Minato lied, not wanting the older teen to know how openly Hamuko had admitted to wanting to see him.

Feeling the others' eyes on him, Shinjiro shuffled past Minato into Hamuko's room. "You're awfully bright-eyed for someone who nearly died," he commented. He sat in the chair, his hands shoved deeply into the pockets of his coat. The machines hooked up to Hamuko looked like instruments of torture to him, even though he knew they were practically keeping her alive.

The girl groaned in frustration, glancing at Shinjiro. "Funny," she murmured sarcastically. "So, you gonna get mad at me yet?" Hamuko's condition seemed to take a toll on her usually nice, submissive personality. She stared at him in the face. "Sorry. I guess I just figured you were going to explode or something. I already realize I am incredibly stupid, so that doesn't need to be said." Out of anger, the girl let out a puff of air, closing her eyes tightly. "You wouldn't even understand if I told you why I did that. It's a lost cause. But, uh..." Her somewhat fearless speech suddenly grew awkward as she paused. "Sorry for worrying you. I wasn't intending to do that, either." Her eyes opened and she glared at the monitor as it began to beep faster again. She really needed to calm down.

Neither of them spoke for a good fifteen seconds as Shinjiro collected his thoughts. "I ain't angry," he finally said, breaking the silence between them. "Just relieved to see you in a fighting spirit. Your tongue's sharper than I remember." He sat back further in his chair with a small grin on his face. "I gotta admit, you surprised us all. I gave up trying to figure out why you did that about hours ago. It happened, it's done, no point trying to change it. But to tell you the truth..." Shinjiro got quiet all of a sudden, knowing that some of the nosier members of SEES would be huddled against the door trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. "What you did wasn't stupid. It was brave, braver than what most of us are capable of."

He chuckled, taking the solemn tone of conversation through a neck-snapping tailspin. "Aw, hell. Listen to me, I sound like an idiot. I've been going all sorts of soft since I got back with SEES."

Hamuko took in what Shinjiro was saying. Her expression slowly softened, now glancing at the teen in a new light. She bit her lip nervously, unable to retort now. "You know... when I first met you back at the dorm, you kind of.. scared me," she chuckled, stopping herself as the pain ran though her body. "You don't seem so bad. You're actually sort of...nice." Her eyes suddenly averted, her cheeks tinged with blush. Her face grew pale again, however, as he heard those same words that he said before ringing in her head. She looked visibly uncomfortable at this point, trying to shift her body slightly in order to make herself feel better. "I heard you all talking about me... even though I was out cold... Shinji- Uhm, Shinjiro-senpai... What did Ikutsuki do that was bad for me? I don't... remember..." Hamuko squinted her eyes, trying to remember every detail from that night, but it was foggy and unclear to her. "You said...something to him... and I..." Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest as she thought of the possibility that the adult in the group could have been hurting her in some way. That wasn't possible...right?

"Oh, you heard that?" Wondering why he wasn't surprised, Shinjiro decided that the best thing to do was to answer her truthfully, although a sliver of sarcasm did manage to find its way into his words. "Well, being the common street punk that I am, I know that those pills are a notoriously addictive drug. One hit and you're hooked. But some Persona users found an alternative use for them. They are extremely good at repressing the power of a Persona."

"That thing probably saved your life. I reacted the way I did because I didn't wanted to see you get addicted, because the habit eventually kills them. It's an ugly way to die."

The beautiful irony behind his words was not lost on Shinjiro Aragaki.

Hamuko grew deathly silent, not exactly the one to be joking over drug addictions and death. "Oh... um..." She paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. "Well, thanks," she finally murmured, watching him with sincerity in her eyes. "I'm glad that you care. I'm glad that everyone cares... I mean, I just met you all. What difference would it make-" she looked down bitterly, averting her eyes again, "-if some girl that you hardly even knew just happened to die?" It was a truly honest question; the girl didn't have a clue what the answer would be.

"I can't believe... I almost died... But for some reason, I really didn't mind. It was strange." Her eyes squinted up in pain again; she really just wanted to sleep some more, but her mind was fully awake.

"Why wouldn't it make a difference?"

The answer was plain and to the point, blunt, and honest all at the same time. "When you have someone you care for taken away from you, it really puts a different spin on the way you look at things. You start to hold onto anything new because you're afraid it's going to be gone the next second." Shinjiro felt pathetic talking sappy like this, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. The words just kept coming. "All of us know what that's like and we hate that feeling, so we try to avoid it."

"...I see." Hamuko closed her eyes in knowing, accepting his explanation with no further questions. "So, Minato tells me that everyone made it out alright." She smiled slightly, relieved at saying it once again. "A-Akihiko-senpai... he looked pretty rough. Was he alright?" She had somehow noticed a connection between the two, and smirked. "You guys seem a lot alike, you know. Same kind of outlook on life, it seems."

"Oh, yeah, Aki's fine. A few scratches, a bit of a concussion, but that's it. The doctor told him to not do any major physical activity for about a week, so he'll be pacing around the dorm, going stir-crazy. Mitsuru will yell at him, he'll quit for a while but go right back to it. It happens every time he gets hurt." Shinjiro sighed slightly, shaking his head, but he talked about it like one would when reliving a fond memory. "He talks about his training nonstop, so don't feel hesitant to tell him to shut it. And if you see the two of us fighting, leave us alone. We do it all the time. We've been friends since we were kids, so we grew up having each other's back. More like brothers than anything."

"Heehee. Aki. That's cute," Hamuko chirped, hanging on that name in particular and thinking that the pet names they had for one another were pretty adorable. She glanced at the nearby machine again, pouting. "When are they going to let more than one person in at a time? I'm fine, geez." She tapped her fingers on the bed, staring at Shinjiro again. "Shinji- ...Mm, ahem. Shinjiro-senpai," she teased, "Do you think maybe they'd let Akihiko-senpai in to say hi to me too? I don't want to have to talk to all of you separate. It's weird. I'm totally fine, I swear. Mentally, anyway. Haha." She smiled, finally able to speak in a comfortable way with him. She almost felt bad for being so harsh on him earlier. "I really do want to talk to all of you guys at some point. After all, I owe you all for helping me."

"The doctors don't have to know. I'll bring him in. We'd probably get kicked out if I tried to get everyone in here, though. So just one or two at a time. We'll be in and out before they even know." Shinjiro poked his head outside the door. "Aki!" he called.

Breaking from his dozed stupor, Akihiko looked up blearily. "What?"

"C'mere."

Akihiko obeyed, though his sore body protested every movement. "What?" he asked as he met friend at the door.

"Get in here, she wants to talk to you for a bit."

With a nod, Akihiko slipped past Shinjiro into Hamuko's room. "Hey," he said, glad to see her looking in good shape. "Must be getting pretty annoying having to see everyone one at a time. How are you holding up?"

"Fine," the girl lied, rolling her eyes. She paused for a moment, looking at the boy. "I just wish I could've gotten there earlier. You...Minato-kun...Mitsuru-senpai... You all got hurt. B-But it's not like I was supposed to leave in the first place.. That was my fault," she admitted. "Don't blame Shinjiro-senpai. He was just trying to help me, but I was stubborn enough to run off without his permission." She sighed, glancing at the monitors tiredly, staring at a series of numbers that made no sense to her whatsoever. "So you're alright, then? From what I could see in there, you looked really hurt. But maybe I was just scared and over-analyzed everything."

"Huh, I hadn't thought about it that way. Come to think of it, he _was _the one in charge." None of them had really thought about the fact that she had been allowed to leave the dorm in the first place; they'd all been too concerned with her making it out alive to consider whose fault it was. "I'll have to smack him one when I get the chance. Kidding, kidding!" he quickly said when he saw the look on Hamuko's face. "I wouldn't do that." Akihiko fidgeted with the large bandage that had been taped to his forehead. The stitches underneath it itched like fire as the cut started the healing process and it was irritating him to no end. "My brain got knocked around a bit, so I have to rest for about a week, but that's nothing."

Hamuko's face turned a little pale at Akihiko's description of his condition. "N-Nothing?" she questioned. She watched him playing with the bandages, and her eyes grew concerned. "W-Well, don't touch it or anything." Realizing that her caring instincts were arising once again, the girl shut her mouth, looking embarrassed. "Sorry, I shouldn't be telling you what to do, senpai." She was lying in a bed practically strapped down, so she really couldn't force him into being careful anyway. She groaned as she could feel the anesthetic steadily wearing off. Her eyes squinted for a moment as she felt another stabbing pain in her stomach. _Gotta let the next nurse that comes in here know,_ she reminded herself._ Great. How long am I gonna be in here, anyway?_

Her impatience came across aloud as the girl tapped on her bed again, seeming rather fidgety. Her condition was restricting all of her body movements; her nonverbal communication for the moment was completely lost.

"Hm? Oh, right." Akihiko dropped his hand from his forehead. It was something he had started doing out of habit without even really thinking about it. Noticing her anxiety, Akihiko friendly smiled at her, trying to get her to calm down a little. "You're going stir-crazy already. I hate to tell you, but you're going to be here for a while. If you can hold out until your condition improves and the doctors move you to a regular room, we'll bring some of your stuff here to make it more bearable. And we'll be in a lot to see you, too."

"Great," she spat, obviously miffed. "It's only so much fun having your arms strapped to machines like Pinocchio. Or a science experiment." She sighed. "Not taking it out on you, I swear. I was just hoping to start off my new life here on the right foot. Do I...need to work on homework or something yet?" Even the prospect of school work was exciting to her; anything to keep her mind off of her condition. She felt yet another twinge of main in her body and grimaced. Hamuko glanced to her right and saw a small, red button. _That must be the "call" button,_ she thought in relief. Without reluctance, the girl banged her fist on it, sighing. "Sorry, Akihiko," she murmured. "I still want to talk to you guys, but I think whatever medicine stuff they gave me is wearing off."

Within a few moments, a frightened-looking man came into the room, glancing at the girl in bed. He was relieved to find out that she appeared perfectly fine. "Y-Yes, Miss Arasawa?" The girl sighed, and smiled apologetically. "I'm feeling a little bit of pain. At least I'm awake, though. I was sick of sleeping for so long."

"It hasn't been that long since you've arrived, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

The man chuckled at her spunk, before walking over to one of the various cabinets. "I figured that anesthetic we gave you would wear off sooner or later. Guess it caused you to wake up, too." Within a few moments, the man turned around, holding a syringe in his hand that contained some kind of liquid. Hamuko suddenly grew visibly uncomfortable. The doctor eyed her carefully as she fidgeted. "This is a similar sedative. It won't knock you out, but it will get rid of all your pain."

"N-No, that's alright, never mind," the girl managed to choke out, her eyes positively huge with fright. The doctor looked at her in concern. "I promise, you'll only feel a small pinch. It won't be more than a second." Hamuko scooted as far away from him as the wires permitted. Her eyes were locked on the needle. "I c-can't," she stammered, looking positively terrified.

"Just don't look over here, Miss Arasawa. It'll be over before you know it. Just hand me your arm-"

"_No!_" she shrieked, violently pulling away from him. The movement of the wires and cords attached to her arms had cleanly knocked items off of the table beside her, the girl jumping and jerking away from the male. One final jerk had caused the girl to double over in pain. She cringed, but her eyes still were locked on the man like a scared animal trying to protect its own life. The man cursed quietly, noticing her visible pain, and his eyes grew wide as he saw red beginning to stain the bandages on her stomach. "Miss Arasawa, please don't-"

The girl would not give up without a fight. She struggled like she was trying to fight off something that would kill her. Her phobia of needles was the least of their worries now, as the girl flailed on the hospital bed, trying to avoid the doctor's grasp, and, more importantly, the needle that he held. The man reached over and slammed the red "call" button, panting as he tried to compose himself to address the girl's problems, and quickly, while still trying to restrain her. "You, get over here!" he called to Akihiko, sweat breaking out onto his face as he saw her getting much worse, struggling with a new-found passion against him.

Akihiko instinctively lunged forward, practically falling on Hamuko's bed next to her. His first option was to grab her arms to hold her still, but that would seem like he was trying to get the needle in her arm faster and therefore the bad guy. Instead he went a different direction. He motioned at the nurse to wait while he calmed her down. Akihiko took one of Hamuko's hands in his. The plastic tubes crisscrossing her wrists and palms felt alien under his hands. He looked her straight in the eye very seriously, but with a soothingly level tone to his voice. "Hamuko, you have to calm yourself down. You're going to hurt yourself more than you already are and you might hurt the nurse. The medicine is going to help you so much, I promise. Talk to me and ignore the needle and it'll be over before you know it."

Hamuko bit her lip until her teeth started to draw blood. She shook her head furiously, tears in her eyes. "I can't!" she shrieked, nearly squeezing his own hand to death. She tried to stare at Akihiko and only him, but her eyes kept flicking to the nurse. Her eyes were still quite large, and her face was now as white as the sheet that she was laying under. She looked down and held her breath as she noticed that her stomach was bleeding. Terror was beginning to take over her body.

As if on cue, a few female nurses and the head surgeon rushed into the room. They all approached opposite sides of her bed. One of the nurses instructed Akihiko to step back and allow them to work. Hamuko, however, screamed in protest. "No! Stop it! I can't-"

Her eyes dilated suddenly as she felt a small prick in her arm. Shaking with absolute shock, the girl turned her head from the commotion to see the male nurse grabbing her wrist and injecting the medicine. He quickly pulled the apparatus from her arm, backing up and collapsing in the chair behind him, breathing heavily. Quickly recoiling, the girl grasped her own arm and fell back onto the bed, sobbing. Her body shook furiously. Even though it was over, something about it still seemed to terrify her. Her eyes were dead set on the wall beside her as she shook.

She suddenly grew very dizzy as the doctors all began conversing together in hushed tones next to her bed. "Will we have to restitch the wound together? We will have to completely sedate her if we do."

"It's a little risky, she's still quite unstable. Is someone monitoring her vitals?"

"She seems alright... but her pulse has increased dramatically. I think you shocked her, Takeshi."

"We need to get her to calm down. Hopefully the sedative will do its job."

"It would be helpful if someone close to her had told us of her Trypanophobia."

"That's not important right now!"

"All of you, get out now," Akihiko suddenly snarled.

One of the nurses, an elderly woman, looked to him with shock and apprehension in her eyes. "Young man, you and your friends are already treading on your authority to visit Miss Arasawa. Watch your tongue or I will be forced to call security on you."

"Do it, I don't care." Akihiko's face was monstrous, his eyes glinting like a predator's and his nerves almost as raw. His clenched fists just dared any of them to come near him or Hamuko again. Shaking with angry energy, he undoubtedly would've started swinging if one of the nurses pushed him any further. "Get the hell out of this room!"

The nurses scattered quickly, except for the one who had injected Hamuko and the elderly woman who had threatened Akihiko. The glare she gave him was poisonous. "Her wound has reopened, so I'm going to get supplies to clean and re-wrap it. You're on thin ice, boy."

The women turned on her heel and left with a huff and Akihiko immediately went to Hamuko and sat on the edge of her bed. She was shaking and crying, fear and pain radiating off of her like a heater in December. "Hey, don't cry. I about came that close to knocking that idiot nurse out, if it makes you feel any better. Your wound is bleeding again...here, bring the blankets to soak it up." He reached for the thin, papery sheets and balled them up. She had her back to him, so he held them out to her, hoping she would take them.

Hamuko gently lifted her head, her lip quivering along with the rest of her body. She lightly twisted her body around, taking the sheets with a cold, terrified look in her eye. She placed them around her body almost automatically, looking very distant. Her eyes were pouring tears, though she was making no noise. She was so scared that she couldn't even cry in a normal way. Suddenly, in a fit of terror, Hamuko reached out and grabbed the boy around his chest, burying her face into his sweater. She shook fiercely, but her arms were locked and she didn't want to let go. "I...c-can't... take this anymore.." she whispered, her voice sounding eerily steady while her body portrayed the completely opposite emotion.

The male nurse stood up quietly, his eyes widened at everything that was going on. "I... am so sorry..." he admitted. "I couldn't just let her endure that pain. It is incredible that she survived such a large and disastrous wound... Her body didn't seem like it was going to take the strain.."

Hamuko grabbed on tighter to the boy, burying her face deeper into his clothing. "Don't talk about me as if I'm dead!" came her muffled cry of anger.

Akihiko looked at him piteously. He had just been trying to do the best thing for his patient. Maybe not the smartest option to take, but he'd only been doing his job. Akihiko didn't embrace her back out of fear of aggravating her injury further, but he did pat her shoulders and head to know that he understood her. Looking over his shoulder, he gave the nurse an apologetic nod. "Stay strong," he whispered to Hamuko. "You're through the worst. It's all going to go up from here." He could feel her tears soaking through his shirt, leaving a huge wet stain that he'd probably have to explain later. "You survived when the doctors didn't think you would. You've already proven yourself as a survivor. I think you're deserving of a good cry."

His words were beginning to finally take an effect on the girl. Hamuko took a deep breath as the monitors stopped beeping so furiously. The nurse smiled back at Akihiko, shrugging his shoulders. "Next time she needs something like that... You can do it," he joked, before stepping out to tell the others that her vitals returned to normal.

Hamuko sniffled slightly, her arms still tied around him. She lifted her face from his sweater, her eyes sparkling with tears. "I'm sorry," she murmured, realizing what she just had him go through. "I'm so sorry..." Her face dropped again, and her body shook lightly from the loss of blood. "I... can't take needles. I've always been terrified of them..." Just trying to think of a reason why made her pulse spike, but returned to normal when she realized she was hurting herself again. "I can't imagine if I would have had to endure that alone," she stuttered, looking up at him again.

"I'm glad you were here." It sounded quite sappy, but the girl was so miserable that she really didn't care. Here was a guy that hardly knew her, and yet was taking care of her as though they were close for quite some time.

* * *

><p><em>To Be Continued...<em>

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><p><em>Hope you all enjoyed. "Sanitatem" simply means "health" or "healing."<em>


	8. Nexus

_AN: Just a short lil' chapter to keep you guys entertained while the new one is being edited and fixed up all pretty. xDDD Just a bit of fluff in here; can't have good writing without it, right? ;D Make sure to review! Shpanks!_

_~Ami_

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><p><em>Previously...<em>

* * *

><p><em>"Just don't look over here, Miss Arasawa. It'll be over before you know it. Just hand me your arm-"<em>

_"_No!_" she shrieked, violently pulling away from him. The movement of the wires and cords attached to her arms had cleanly knocked items off of the table beside her, the girl jumping and jerking away from the male. One final jerk had caused the girl to double over in pain. She cringed, but her eyes still were locked on the man like a scared animal trying to protect its own life. The man cursed quietly, noticing her visible pain, and his eyes grew wide as he saw red beginning to stain the bandages on her stomach. "Miss Arasawa, please don't-"_

_..._

_"All of you, get out now," Akihiko suddenly snarled._

_One of the nurses, an elderly woman, looked to him with shock and apprehension in her eyes. "Young man, you and your friends are already treading on your authority to visit Miss Arasawa. Watch your tongue or I will be forced to call security on you."_

_"Do it, I don't care." Akihiko's face was monstrous, his eyes glinting like a predator's and his nerves almost as raw. His clenched fists just dared any of them to come near him or Hamuko again. Shaking with angry energy, he undoubtedly would've started swinging if one of the nurses pushed him any further. "Get the hell out of this room!"_

_..._

_"I'm so sorry..." Her face dropped again, and her body shook lightly from the loss of blood. "I... can't take needles. I've always been terrified of them..." Just trying to think of a reason why made her pulse spike, but returned to normal when she realized she was hurting herself again. "I can't imagine if I would have had to endure that alone," she stuttered, looking up at him again._

_"I'm glad you were here."_

* * *

><p>Hamuko's eyes suddenly grew fuzzy and tired again. She lightly pushed herself away from him, reaching down and touching the now blood-stained blankets. She shivered, before glancing back over at Akihiko, who now appeared to be a red blur. "I'm tired..." she murmured, her eyelids drooping.<p>

"It's probably the medicine kicking in," Akihiko told her. The tell-tale haze of drugs was starting to come over her face as they started to dull her pain. "Just rest for a while," he encouraged her. "I'll stick around while they re-wrap your bandage. They can kick me out if they want, I don't care. I don't like the way that nurse was acting. She can get over herself."

The nurse in question walked in carrying bandages and disinfectant, all neatly wrapped together. The withering look she gave Akihiko was largely ignored by him as she settled in to do her job. "Dear," she said to Akihiko in a voice that was almost sickly sweet and definitely fake. "I'm going to need you to go into the hallway for a few minutes while I do this."

Akihiko turned around and walked to the other side of the room to give them some privacy. "I'm not leaving this room until she tells me to go."

The nurse sighed heavily. "Fine. Do whatever you want. Miss Arasawa? Oh, the medicine is already taking effect, is it? You're going to have to cooperate with me a little bit, then."

Hamuko sadly laid back down and let the nurse do as she pleased. She couldn't really believe how she had exploded in fright so quickly and violently. When the nurse backed up, finishing her job, the girl sleepily stared at her in frustration. "I request to see the rest of my friends before I fall back asleep, please. Can we cut the 'one at a time' crap?"

The elderly woman gazed at the girl in disgust. "You have almost the same type of tongue as your friend," she muttered, sarcasm dripping from her voice like honey. She groaned, throwing up her arms. "You know what, I don't even care anymore. Bring the Prime Minister in here if you want to. I need to inform the doctor of your condition." And with that statement, the woman was out in a flourish of white scrubs.

Hamuko actually lightly giggled at what she had caused to happen. "You're right, Akihiko-senpai. I don't like her, either." She repositioned herself on the bed, relaxing her muscles as she instantly felt better. Her pain was little to none now. "If I could get up and go talk to the others, I would. Could you ask everybody to get in here before I pass out again?" It was a joke, albeit a bitter one. She knew that the sedative wasn't supposed to knock her out, but all of the talking and events that had occurred since she had woken up were taking a toll on her beaten body.

"Of course," Akihiko agreed. He left and returned momentarily with everyone behind him.

"Lookin' good, Hamu-tan!" Junpei commended as he entered first behind Akihiko. "No, seriously, you look great for someone in the ICU."

Minato followed closely. "Down, boy!" he joked, giving Junpei a friendly shove. "Hamuko, can you believe this guy? Trying to hit on someone in your condition...you oughta be ashamed, Junpei!" The room quickly became crowded, not being meant for so many people in such a small space. They were all standing shoulder to shoulder, and a slight feeling of claustrophobia was settling in.

"Whaaat?" Junpei droned. "I'm just being honest!"

Having already visited Hamuko and not desiring to fight his way through, Shinjiro lingered near the doorway with Akihiko. "You guys talked for a long time," he noted.

"Yeah. She's scared of needles. The doctors came in and tried to give her some painkillers and she freaked out. I tried to help calm her down."

"Explains the giant wet spot on your shirt."

Akihiko rubbed at the fabric, trying to dry it. "I feel bad for her. She's been through a lot."

Shinjiro looked over, and sure enough, Hamuko's eyes were red from crying. Such a mood change she had experienced when talking to them individually, from displaying her propensity to biting sarcasm and sentimental nostalgia with Shinjiro, to expressing her frankness and emotional insecurity with Akihiko. "And she's going to go through a lot more before she's recovered enough to get out of here. But when she reaches that point, what are the odds of her joining us? Especially after what happened last night?"

"...It's hard to say," Akihiko answered honestly. "Any sane person would say no and get away from us as quickly as they could. But she seems different. She wants to prove to herself and us that she's capable of keeping up. It'll take some time for her to recover, but I'm confident that she'll stick around for a while. It's just a hunch."

Mitsuru, during all of this chaos, had retreated to the back of the room to talk to the others. "She seems to be doing fine," she commented to Akihiko. "What a relief."

Hamuko laughed happily, taking in just how much of a flirt Junpei was. _Let's see if this throws him off,_she thought to herself. "Hey, Junpei? C'mere. I have something to tell you." Even though she was very tired, her eyes still seemed to be quite alert. She watched him carefully as he came closer. "No, no, closer. It's a secret," she murmured, looking cautiously at the others in mock worry. She slowly leaned forward to the boy now hovering over her head, putting her mouth near his ear as she began to speak... Instead, the girl grasped his head, putting her lips to the side of his face and kissing him quickly on the cheek, pulling away with a triumphant smirk on her face as she laid back down and put her hands behind her head. "Thank you for that compliment. ...Yeah, that was all I really wanted to say!" The smile on her face clearly showed her playful attitude toward the boy. She had a feeling that she would be manipulating him many times like that in the future, if she would ever be able to get out of this bed.

Ken's face turned just about as red as Junpei's. _Wow, she's bold,_he thought in shock.

Yukari, who also had a front seat to all of that, was laughing so hard that it almost appeared as though she wasn't breathing. "Wow, Stupei," she joked. "Just look at how red your face is! That's definitely not a normal color; I think _he_needs to see a doctor now."

"I...uh...uh..." Babbling with his face turning a deep shade scarlet, Junpei touched his cheek. He could still feel the warm imprints of her lips there. He laughed, wishing the heat he was feeling in his face would subside so he could actually form a coherent sentence.

"No way!" Minato exclaimed with a grin. "You actually fell for that, Hamuko? I have a feeling you just created a monster."

Still trying to compose himself, Junpei gave him the finger.

Aigis looked at the gesture curiously. "What implication does the middle finger mean?"

"It's a nasty suggestion," Minato explained as delicately as he could. "I don't recommend picking the habit up, Ai-chan."

Hamuko giggled lightly, no longer feeling any intense pain in her abdomen. "Now, now, now," she teased. "Inappropriate gestures aren't the way to go, Junpei. How do you think that makes him feel? You really upset him, I'm sure. Maybe I should just kiss _him_ and make it all better." The girl smirked, knowing that Junpei would be wrapped around her little finger from that point on. She laughed, waving the suggestion away. "I kid, I kid. I just wanted to see the look on your face, that's all."

Now Minato was the one going red. "He flips me off all the time. It's nothing new."

Yukari snorted as she gazed at the two boys. "You guys better watch out with her around. You might just do something stupid. Well...more stupid than you usually achieve," she laughed.

Still confused, Aigis had turned her attention to Junpei's cheek. "It appears as though the lips are an erogenous zone that stimulates the human libido. That is why Junpei-san is becoming red. I am beginning to further understand one of the reasons for the trait you humans call 'blushing.'"

It didn't seem possible, but Junpei flushed even deeper. "'Erogenous zone?'" The words themselves sounded dirty enough without Aigis having to explain it to him. "No, Ai-chan...Hamu-tan surprised me, that's why I'm blushing!"

The blonde blinked a few times. "So why did Minato-san blush?"

"Because he was embarrassed by the suggestion of a kiss," Junpei said with exasperation. "Don't try and figure it out. You'll just fry your sensors."

"Hey, Yukari," Minato murmured to the girl. "Look at it this way. Now Junpei has another girl to run after for a while, so he'll leave you alone for a bit."

On the far side of the room, Shinjiro's eyes were fully on Hamuko. It truly was unbelievable how much she had changed since they talked alone. _"When you have someone you care for taken away from you, it really puts a different spin on the way you look at things. You start to hold onto anything new because you're afraid it's going to be gone the next second."_ Maybe she was doing the same thing. Not showing her weakness so she wouldn't worry anyone, and trying to become as comfortable with them as she could. So what could've made her open up to him and Akihiko, and, as he suspected, Minato as well? It made no sense to him. Never one to follow his heart, Shinjiro's head just couldn't wrap around Hamuko's motives.

Hamuko raised her eyebrows at Aigis's statement, and her cheeks slowly started to flush. "Nono, Aigis! I was just joking!" she stammered. The girl laughed nervously, feeling all eyes on her. She sighed, obviously unable to explain the situation to a robot. She gazed at the team, her cheeks now glowing red. Embarrassed, the girl threw the sheet over her head. "Ahem. Aigis. Don't try to analyze us. It doesn't work that way," she stated matter-of-factly, her voice muffled by the sheet. Slowly peeking out from it, she could see Shinjiro. Staring at her. Obviously staring at her. Her face got even more hot as she realized that making a fool out of herself like that in front of him was probably the stupidest thing she could do.

"See, now, look at that, Aigis. Now everyone's embarrassed because of you," Yukari commented, smirking. "Way to make the whole situation awkward." The girl rolled her eyes, shaking her head at the situation. Hamuko was peeking out from beneath the sheets like a child, staring at Shinjiro, Junpei was still a lovely shade of scarlet, and even Minato was fidgety and uncomfortable.

"I am sorry for any insensitivity I may have caused," Aigis said. "I assure you that I did not mean it."

Minato laughed shakily and patted the android girl on the shoulder. "No, you're okay, Ai-chan. You didn't know and you're still learning." He suddenly noticed Hamuko's electric gaze and he followed it to Shinjiro, who was staring back with a similar intensity. It was almost frightening, the way they looked at each other. Like there was something only they knew and they were doing everything they could to hide it from the rest. Trying to break that tension, Minato changed the subject. "I feel sorry for poor Koro-chan. Aigis said he wants to see you so bad, but the hospital wouldn't let us bring him in. We tried to pass him off as Aigis' seeing-eye dog, but it didn't work."

Shinjiro pointedly broke off his gaze as the eye contact became comfortable to hold any longer. Annoyed for reasons he wasn't quite sure of, he spoke quietly to Akihiko. "I'll be right back." He strode down the hallway, made a few turns, and happened upon a bathroom. He popped inside, locking the door behind him. A cold sweat had started to emerge on his brow, but his hat successfully hid it from the others' view. The mirror showed him looking very stressed and exhausted, but not from what had happened the night before. With hands that were starting to shake lightly, he reached inside his coat and his hand felt was he was looking for. The pill bottle's contents clattered in their plastic prison as they were disturbed by the heavy movements. Shinjiro removed the lid and poured two pills out into his palm. With all the poise of an experienced drug addict, he tilted his head back, threw them in his mouth, and swallowed without drinking anything. The results were almost instantaneous; the addictive desire for the pills was fulfilled and the power stirring in him was smothered. The familiar feeling of warmth spread through his veins as the Suppressants took effect, but it felt empty. Shinjiro could almost imagine his Persona, Castor, being beaten to a pulp in the depth of his subconscious. His words to Hamuko were coming back to him, stinging at Shinjiro like angered wasps.

"It's an ugly way to die," he repeated to his reflection in the mirror.

...

"Well, be sure to tell Koromaru that I miss him and will be back soon, Aigis-chan," Hamuko commented, smiling. Her smile faltered, however, as Shinjiro seemed to disappear quickly from the room. He left so quickly. The girl felt a sickening feeling in her stomach; something was wrong. She glanced down for a moment, her eyelashes fluttering in exhaustion. _Why do I care so much? Why do I want to know what's going on? _she asked herself. _I guess...everyone else is just so readable to me, but he... he's much different._

Yukari looked at the girl in confusion. Assuming that she must be tired, the young girl closed her eyes in acceptance.

Mitsuru seemed to think the same way. "You must be exhausted, Arasawa. Maybe you should rest a while longer."

Hamuko looked up, almost protesting with her facial expression, but she sighed, giving up. "Fine," she murmured. "I suppose that is better for me. Did the doctor say when I can go?"

The redhead bit her lip. "Well... it'll be a while before you fully recover. But, Ikutsuki and I spoke with the doctor, and it was agreed that once you are able to move and walk on your own... about a week, this weekend at best.. He will allow you to return home if and only if you do not strain yourself. That means no physical activity, no stressful situations... You may even have to miss school for another week and just rest at the dorm all day."

"Beats being tied up to machines here," she commented, sighing in defeat. "I understand."

Fuuka smiled apologetically. "I'll be sure to make you some things and bring them to you here at the hospital!"

Hamuko grinned. "That would be nice, Fuuka-chan."

"Minato-kun likes my food, at least, don't you?" she asked, completely unaware if he was telling the truth or not.

"Y-yeah, it's good," Minato said quickly. "It beats hospital food." That, at least, was the truth; Fuuka's food tended to turn out badly, but hospital food was on a level all its own. "And Hamuko, I have an idea that'll make things much more bearable." He had hoped that she would be awake enough to use it, so he'd snuck into her unlocked room that morning. From his pocket Minato brought forth her mp3 player. The headphones were badly tangled, but it was a kind gesture. "You had it the night you came in, so I thought it might help stop the boredom for a while."

Hamuko smiled faintly. "Thanks, Minato-kun. That was very sweet of you."

"We can get you anything you want," Junpei nodded. "It's just a week."

"Give the nurses a hard time for me," Akihiko laughed. "Especially the two I'm thinking of in particular." Though he didn't come right out and say it, Akihiko was obviously referring to the needle incident. He was trying to put a lighter spin on it, to downplay its severity, but it was difficult to do. Just letting her know that she could reach any of them easily would have to suffice.

Hamuko's eyes looked down slowly. "You guys will visit me 'till I can leave, right?"

"Of course!" Fuuka chirped. "I'll be here everyday after school to bring your homework to you. It's the least I can do."

Yukari grinned. "Don't worry. You'll be out of there in no time at all, I know it."

"Thanks," Hamuko murmured in relief.

"Go ahead and rest. We'll be back to see you again tomorrow," Mitsuru stated, herding the rest out of the room.

The young girl closed her eyes in acceptance. This wouldn't be so bad. They really cared about her. Hamuko actually felt happy... to be alive and well.

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><p><em>"Nexus" = "connections" or "links." =3<em>


	9. Dormitorium

_AN: Chapter Nine. Whoo, we're getting somewhere. xDDD Review, please!_

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><p><em>That Weekend...<em>

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><p>"It's alright, don't push yourself."<p>

Hamuko's eyes squinted in concentration, taking one delicate step at a time, using a small cane to keep her balance. Looking at the calendar, she noted that it was now Saturday. "But... I have to.." she panted. "They're coming from school to visit me today, and I... want to show them... how far I've come." She glanced around at her new hospital room. Flowers, colorful pictures, and random objects from her own suitcase were placed around the room. She smirked, thinking of the roses that Junpei had gotten her one day, a flirtatious grin on his face. She hoped that their attitude wouldn't change towards her once she was out of the hospital and back on her feet.

Her small tanktop was lifted up, allowing the numerous wrappings around her rib cage and abdomen to breathe. The bandages used were thick and wide, allowing virtually no movement from her stomach-area. The doctors were still afraid that if the girl would irritate or use it too often, that the wound might reopen. However, much to their surprise, the girl seemed to be healing relatively quickly.

"Yes, I know, Miss Arasawa, but you look a little tired today."

The girl glared at the nurse, her eyes fiery as she took another defiant, yet shaky step. Her stomach clenched tightly, but the girl resisted the uncomfortable feeling. "I'm fine. I have something to prove. I want to get out of here."

"Well, that's no attitude to have here, young lady. If we do not deem you fit to leave the hospital, you cannot. So do not push your luck with me; I can see that you're pushing yourself," she muttered, giving her an all-knowing look.

Hamuko shrunk away from the nurse's gaze, now looking intimidated instead of angry. She wouldn't hold her back just because she could, would she? She realized that treating her nicely would probably boost her odds of getting out of the torture chamber that she called a "hospital." Hamuko grasped the handle of the small cane in frustration. Calming herself, the girl handed it to the nurse. "Could I please try walking without this? Just once?"

"...Very well, then. If you feel pain or get dizzy, stop and let me know."

Breathing deeply, the girl took a few timid steps in one direction, trying to straighten out her back. To her surprise, the girl made it across the entire room, but quite slowly. She made it to her bed, and sat down on it, a little woozy, but incredibly relieved. She looked up at the nurse with pitiful, but smiling eyes.

She smiled, rolling her eyes. "I can't believe it. Well, you seem to have made some real progress. I'm happy for you. Now see, that wasn't so bad. Be a little nicer to us, we're trying to help you." And with that, the nurse left the room to discuss further matters with the doctor, leaving the door open as to let any visitors in.

Meanwhile, Hamuko grasped a small hairtie from her wrist, gently pulling her hair up into a messy ponytail. She took the sheet from her bed and wrapped it around her shoulders, kicking her legs back in forth in anticipation.

"Hellooooo? Anyone in here?"

Minato peered into the room, precariously balancing a stack of books, both his and Hamuko's. "I come bearing gifts of joy," he announced sarcastically. He dropped the books on her bedside table, relieving his arms of the cumbersome weight. He flopped into a chair and smiled at the vase of half-withered flowers sitting next to the pile of textbooks and homework. He'd helped Junpei pick them out as a get-well present to her and let him give them to her. They nearly came to blows over what colors the roses were going to be; Junpei had taken a liking to the yellow ones while Minato thought the pink ones suited Hamuko better. The florist, eager to keep things peaceful and nonviolent, had offered to compromise by putting the two colors together in one bouquet for the same price. Now, with the flowers half dead, the argument seemed pointless.

Still, the room as a whole was much friendly and warmer than it had when Hamuko had first arrived. "You're walking around a lot better," Minato congratulated her. "Everyone at the dorm's getting anxious for you to come back. Fuuka and Yukari unpacked a lot of your things for you and they've kept your room clean so it's not a mess. We've kept down the rumor mill at school, too. I hate to tell you, but you're sort of a hot topic right now. The stories are crazy, everything from you getting hit by a car to being stabbed in a drug deal gone bad. We've been pushing the first one, of course. The truth would be too unbelievable for even those gossip-happy people to believe."

Hamuko laughed at the boy's spirit. "Just tell them the truth. I'm sure they'll take it fine. 'Oh, yeah, no big deal, she just got impaled by a giant black creature set on destroying mankind.'" The girl rolled her eyes, smiling. "I'm just glad that I can come back soon. I'm sick of this place. N-Not that you guys haven't made it bearable or anything!" she suddenly interjected, tucking her bangs away from her face. "I just mean... I want to be able to hang out with you guys and have fun. And being in a hospital... well... it's hard to do that."

Out of nowhere, the two could hear Mitsuru and the Chairman's voices out in the hall.

"Yes. That's what the doctor had said."

"Excellent," Mitsuru responded.

"Should we go tell her, then?"

"I'll do it. Mr. Chairman, can you give the doctors my sincerest thanks and let them know that my father will be supporting them in their endeavors?"

"No problem, Mitsuru."

And with those words, the redhead girl walked into the hospital room, her usually cold, proud face replaced by a softer one. "Well, then, Arasawa." She paused for a moment, sighing in relief. "The doctor has given you permission to leave tonight, as long as we are all careful to watch you. And you still need to take next week off school."

The excitement that lit up Hamuko's face was a sight to see. "Really! Yes!" she cheered, her eyes closed in absolute bliss. Elated, the girl almost jumped up from her bed, staggering a little as she grabbed Minato's hands, shaking them up and down. "Did you hear that? You don't have to keep wasting your time with me here anymore! I can finally go out! Yes!" She let go of his hands and clasped hers together. "Thank you, Mitsuru-senpai!"

The Senior chuckled. "Don't push yourself too much. Fuuka's coming. She and I will gather your things here. And, Arisato-kun, if you do not mind, Hamuko may need some help outside. Just give her a little support, the doctor says that she can walk relatively well now. My father has a company vehicle outside; we're going back to the dorm in that."

As if on cue, Fuuka entered. "The Chairman just told me the news!" she chirped, almost as excited as Hamuko.

Minato let his hands be shaken by Hamuko, but he was sharing her enthusiasm. "Wow, so soon?" He looked around at the room; Hamuko's belongings were going to have to be packed. "I can't even imagine what the others will say; they weren't expecting you for another few days!"

Minato took out his cell phone and typed out a new message. "'Hamuko coming home 2nite!'" His fingers danced across the keys, and he sent it to everyone who wasn't at the hospital with them. His phone practically blew up moments later. He flipped through text after text, smiling wider with each one.

"They're thrilled," he summarized.

Hamuko grinned widely, clearly sharing his enthusiasm. "I'm so excited!" She sat back down, catching her breath. The girl sighed in great relief. "You'll have to introduce me to some friends of yours, Minato-kun," she chirped.

"Ooh! Hamuko-chan! You can join some clubs, too. That's a great way to get to know people," Fuuka commented as she was placing the girl's things in a large bag. "You can be in Cooking Club with me! It's a lot of fun!"

She perked up at the suggestion. "Oh, ah...sure! Sounds nice." Within a few moments, Mitsuru and Fuuka had managed to pack up everything that belonged to Hamuko. "Are we ready to go?"

Mitsuru nodded. "Let's get going, then. We need to go ahead and get you situated back in your room."

Hamuko stood up again, her legs less shaky this time around. She extended one arm, as if to put it around the boy's shoulder. "Ready, Minato-kun?"

"Alright, let's get out of here." Minato bent down and let her put her arm around him. He was tall and strong enough to take her on his own, thought it was a little off-balanced. As they discharged her from the hospital, they were offered a wheelchair no fewer than three times. Each time he responded with, "No, we're fine, but thanks."

In the fresh, outside air, the plushy-looking car waited, the chauffeur standing with the door opening. "Nice car, Mitsuru-senpai." He gently sat Hamuko down on the seat and then climbed in. "Uh, sir?" Minato beckoned the man. "Can you drive carefully? Don't hit bumps too hard or anything."

Once they had finally reached the dorm, Hamuko's heart almost seemed to explode from her chest in anticipation. After getting let out of the car, she continued to use Minato for support until they finally opened the door. In the lounge, Hamuko could see the whole team talking and joking around. "H-Hi, guys," she started, smiling.

Ken looked up from his elementary school homework. "Hiya, Arasawa-senpai."

Yukari grinned, walking up to her. "Hey, look at who's up and about! How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright," she answered truthfully, gratefully taking a seat in one of the chairs that was left open. "How are all you guys doing?"

Meanwhile, Fuuka was on her way upstairs with Hamuko's things, wanting to make her work quick so that she could return and talk.

"Welcome back," Akihiko said, gentlemanly rising to meet her.

"Hi, Akihiko-senpai," she chirped with much enthusiasm.

Minato headed upstairs to drop his backpack off in his room. As he came back out, tiptoeing over the mess in his floor, he closed his door at the same time Shinjiro did down the hall. "Hey, senpai. Heading downstairs?"

"Yeah." That was usually about as far as the two ever got into conversation with each other. For some reason, they had never truly gotten along as friends, only as acquaintances.

In Minato's opinion, there was a certain coldness to the older teen that never made him comfortable around Shinjiro. Others had managed to get him to open up, but that had yet to happen between the two of them. Wanting to change that, Minato said, "Hold up, I'll go back down with you." He fumbled with the keys hanging from the lanyard on his belt loop and locked his door, then turned to catch up with Shinjiro.

Shinjiro waited patiently as Minato joined him. Together the two walked back downstairs and separated at the lounge. Shinjiro headed into the kitchen, hungry for something to eat. He came back with a piece of toast in his mouth and found the others in the lounge. "She's back," he stated obviously as he took one of the single seats on either ends of the couch.

Hamuko couldn't help but laugh aloud when Shinjiro appeared, carrying a piece of toast in his mouth like an animal. "Hello, Shinjiro-senpai," she snorted, waving at him with a grin on her face. This was were she truly wanted to be. This already seemed like her new home, and she was happy to be a part of it. The young girl glanced around the room, taking in everyone's faces. She leaned her head back, resting against the edge of the seat. It was quiet for a few moments before she spoke up.

"So, um... You guys were talking about you being part of that SEES group, right? Well...I want to join."

Yukari's eyes widened as she gazed at Hamuko, along with the rest of the team. "Really?"

Hamuko readjusted herself in the seat, paying no heed to the bandages on her chest. "Well, yeah. I mean, I saw what you guys all did last week; I'm assuming that monster thing was not supposed to be there. Specialized...Extracurricular...Execution- Oh. Yeah, I get it." She almost laughed at herself.

Fuuka, nearly tripping over herself to get downstairs, rushed into the room. "So what are we talking about?"

"Yes, thank you very much, sir. Alright, goodbye."

The Chairman stepped into the room after hanging up his cell phone. "What's this I hear?" he asked, smirking at what part of the conversation he had picked up.

Hamuko grinned at the Chairman. "Well, um, I want to join your guys' little group. If that's alright with you. I mean, it seems hard to fight those things... I nearly died trying to, but uh.. That was just a fluke. Right?"

Ikutsuki sighed, half-smiling. "You are correct in that. We were not expecting a Shadow to have itself hidden so well, and be able to manipulate its surroundings. That definitely was a new one."

"Shadow...?"

The chairman thrust his palm against his forehead. "Oh, dear, I forgot about that. We still need to explain everything to you, don't we?"

A little question-mark could almost be seen over Hamuko's head as confusion was clearly written all over her face.

"Alright, alright." Ikutsuki laughed. "Now...who wants to tell the story?" he asked, as if he was asking a bunch of schoolchildren to relate a bedtime tale to the girl.

"I'll do it." As one of the senior members, Akihiko had quite a bit of experience in this particular situation and was willing to relay the information for the thousandth time. "Pay close attention, because this takes a little while."

"When you first arrived, it was very late at night, around midnight, in fact. On your way here you no doubt noticed the coffins standing in the street, blood all over the place, and the way everything looked sort of green. This is called the Dark Hour, or the secret twenty-fifth hour of the day."

Pausing for a moment to let her process that much, Akihiko continued, "No normal person can experience the Dark Hour. They sleep inside the coffins, completely oblivious to everything going on outside. A small percentage of people can experience the Dark Hour, and an even smaller group within that percentage has the potential to summon a Persona. Those who do not have the potential are easy prey for the Shadows. They spawn in a place called Tartarus and feed off humans, turning them into the Lost. You probably haven't seen them yet, but they're almost like zombies because they don't respond to anything."

"You, of course, are among the group of people who have Persona. We all have the power to summon our Persona, excluding the Chairman. They are a physical image of our psyche and personality that respond to danger whenever we're threatened. They each have their own abilities and weaknesses, like my Polydeuces is electricity-based, but weak to ice."

"When you tried to get into the warehouse, Yukari tried to stop you," Shinjiro remembered. "Your Persona burned her, so it's probably fire-based."

"Nice observation."

"Personae are all different, just as much as the people controlling them. I'm a little different," Minato explained, feeling like now was the best time to bring this up. "It's extremely rare, but it's called the Wild Card ability. I can summon many different Personae instead of just one."

"Lucky..." Junpei muttered darkly.

"My true Persona is Orpheus, though. You saw him that night at the warehouse."

Hamuko slowly nodded, taking in all of the information. "So, I'm supposed to believe there's an extra hour in the day that no one else can see?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and looking at them in concern. Before the thought crossed her mind that they were all on some kind of drug, she thought of herself. She saw all of that too. She had her own Persona. There was no choice for her but to accept it. She sighed, shrugging her shoulders and throwing her hands up in the air. "Okay!" she said, giving up on all of her previous logical thoughts.

Yukari laughed. "It's strange, isn't it? We wonder why it's like that too, don't worry."

Mitsuru gazed at the girl seriously. "The purpose of SEES is to execute the Shadows. If we let them run rampant, many individuals would become the Lost. Ordinary people refer to this as 'Apathy Syndrome,' so it must be understood that you can't talk about all of this normally as you would with anything else. They just believe it to be some sort of mental affliction, but for those of us that really do know what happens... Well, it's much different."

The young girl accepted this with no more than a nod. "I understand." She clenched her fist, feeling determination running through her veins. Hamuko put up her fists, grinning. "Bring it on. I'm ready to help you all." Breaking her tough-girl facade with a giggle, she glanced at the boys. "You'll have to all teach me some pointers. I haven't done this stuff in a while."

"In a while?" Fuuka questioned.

"Yeah. When I was younger, I used to take martial arts classes. I could probably still swing a weapon or two around," she chirped, smiling as she reminisced.

Mitsuru raised her eyebrows. "That's impressive."

"Martial arts?" Akihiko's attention was piqued, his eyes brightened with passion for his sport. "Good. Once you're recovered enough, I can help you get your strength back up."

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Shinjiro warned. "You won't be fighting for a while in your shape, so don't get your hopes up."

Minato nodded his agreement. "Senpai's right. We have to focus on the most important things right now. In other words, waiting for Hamuko's condition to improve and preparing for the next full moon."

Though a little disappointed, Akihiko saw their point. "Right. We should have about three weeks before the full moon. Hamuko, you should probably sit that one out. Three weeks is just not enough time, I'm sorry."

The young girl pouted, dropping her fists. "But... " She sighed, glancing at them. "Fine. You're right." She really hadn't thought of her own health. "Hey, wait a minute. What's the significance of a full moon?"

Ikutsuki spoke up this time. "Very powerful Shadows appear every full moon. There are 12 in total. If we defeat all of them, we should be able to end the Dark Hour for good."

"Really?" Hamuko asked, surprised. "That's odd."

He raised his eyebrows at her response, but said nothing.

* * *

><p><em>To Be Continued...<em>

* * *

><p><em>"Dormitorium"... I think this one is self-explanatory. Dorm. ^^;<em>


	10. Affectus

_AN: Thought I'd put in a more humorous chapter this time. Take a little break from the seriousness, throw in some crazy-Junpei-action and a little bit of fluff here and there. =3 Enjoy!_

_OH. AND P TO THE S, DUDE. ...Because this is AU, and I decided to flip the Shadows around, change them up and such, there WILL be a Love Hotel event. Yes, later. And that means "yes." With Shinjiro involved. xD You know you love it. Anyway, enough of my hideous rambling!_

_~Ami_

* * *

><p><em>In the Dorm...<em>

* * *

><p>"So, uh, got anything fun to do in here?" Hamuko asked, at a loss for words. "I mean, it's a dorm. I can only have so much fun cooped up in a building for another few weeks." The young girl chuckled, shrugging her shoulders.<p>

"Well, we're going to Tartarus tonight..." Fuuka murmured, trailing off.

"Oh, that means I can't go, then," she laughed, brushing it off. "Cool with me. I have homework to catch up on. A LOT of homework... How do you all put up with this?" she groaned. It wasn't exactly her fault, though. Make up work would build up at an amazing rate, especially if you didn't understand the material.

"We can leave some people here," Minato offered. "We _could_ take her to Tartarus, but I really don't want to have to carry her everywhere. Once she can walk without help, we can maybe take her as far as the front. She does need to see Tartarus when she can."

"Sounds alright with me," Junpei said. He suddenly smiled widely. "Don't worry, Hamu-tan. There's plenty of fun things to do around here. Especially in my room..."

A pillow came soaring from nowhere and smacked Junpei fully in the face. Shinjiro sat back down in his seat, rotating his throwing arm and looking surlier than usual. "Idiot," he growled. "Don't you think of anything else?"

His mouth full of the fabric, Junpei spat a few times, trying to remove the taste from his mouth. "Of course I do," he insisted.

Hamuko's face grew red at Junpei's statement. Taking a deep breath, the girl grasped the small throw pillow beside her and mimicked Shinjiro, flicking her wrist and tossing the pillow at Junpei's face with the skilled throw of a weapon-user. "Just because I can't move my body well doesn't mean I can't chuck stuff at you, Junpei-kun," she chirped, looking at Shinjiro and giving him a thankful smile.

"Nice throw," Shinjiro smirked with evident glee. "Remind me not to make you mad." A wisely-worded mental note had suddenly come to him: _Hide the kitchen knives. _

"Heehee. Thanks, Shinjiro-senpai," she answered, obviously happy at getting a compliment from him, of all people. He was actually much nicer than she had discovered at first glance.

Fuuka laughed, brushing her blue hair from her face. "Just be glad there wasn't anything sharp or hard nearby, Junpei-kun. She could've killed you with that throw."

"That's what he gets for being Stupei. He should expect to get hit with things more often," Yukari laughed.

Junpei frowned and tossed the two pillows on the floor, safely out of reach of the two. "At least Yuka-tan doesn't throw things at me..."

"That's because she's too nice," Minato remarked. Though he wouldn't put it past the girl; Yukari was mostly hot air in her insults, but if driven beyond a certain point, she likely would get violent. He'd seen her stand up without hesitation to punks threatening her and also face down countless Shadows without fear. "Aren't you, Yukari?"

Yukari blushed at Minato's compliment. "Ahahaha, well, I guess so. Verbal insults are more my thing, right, Stupei?" she laughed.

Fuuka giggled. "Poor Junpei-kun; he's so abused."

Hamuko smiled at her. "Nah, I promise I'll be nice. I'll only throw pillows, swear. Unless he makes me really mad..." She looked back over to the boy, a mischievous grin on her face.

Her expression completely changed, however, as an immense growling sound erupted from her stomach. Looking down, she grabbed herself around the middle, her face hot with embarrassment. "I-I...didn't really eat today..." she confessed, smiling sheepishly. "Heh, I'm sorry. Hospital food sucks." Her face descended into a pout, still clinging to her abdomen. "I'm so glad I'm out of that hell-hole."

Junpei sniggered, but quickly stopped, expecting another pillow missile. When it didn't come, he pushed his luck just a little further. "Ken, just for future reference, keep your spear away from her. Maybe your axe, too, Shinjiro-senpai."

Ken chuckled quietly, but began focusing on his homework again with much fervor.

"You think the hospital was a hell-hole?" Minato smiled knowingly. "It really is, but nothing compared to Tartarus. It makes the hospital look like Candy Land."

Hamuko's eyes grew as large as paper plates at Minato's description of Tartarus. "Fabulous," she replied sarcastically.

The girl's stomach protested just as Shinjiro swallowed the final bit of his toast. He kept his mouth shut, knowing full well he could solve this problem, but not wanting to embarrass himself either. He thought guiltily of the cooking magazines in his room, artfully concealed within the pages of an outdated sports magazine. "Want a piece of toast?" he asked. Anyone could make toast, it wasn't like it was that difficult.

She glanced at Shinjiro, having just offered her food. "Ah, um... sure!" she answered, smiling. "Sorry about having to be babied here. If I could, I'd make myself something." Her eyes squinted in annoyance. "Cooking is probably one of the things I _could _do here to entertain myself, and, of course, it would involve a lot of moving. Maybe I should just sit here and hibernate for the next few weeks." A low growl escaped the girl's mouth. "Pff... You know what? No, Shinjiro-senpai, that's alright. I want to get up. I'll do it," she convinced herself, standing up. "I'm sick of sitting," she muttered, ticked off at her condition.

Yukari sighed. "You're going to go stir-crazy here, aren't you?"

Hamuko took a slow step in the other direction, before looking back at Yukari. "What makes you say that?" she said sarcastically, but a half-smile was still on her face.

Minato started to follow her, but Shinjiro stopped him. "Nah, I got this one." He found her in the kitchen, looking around for everything. "You know what? Never mind driving yourself crazy, it's the rest of us who'll go nuts," he said good-naturedly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him. Not waiting for a response, the girl, within a few moments, had found the butter and slices of bread. Tossing two pieces of bread into the toaster, the girl glanced around, still appearing to be looking for something. She opened a cabinet, surprised at the amount of spices inside. Smiling as she found what she was looking for, the girl pulled out a glass shaker with what appeared to be a brown substance inside. Gently smelling it to make sure it was the right one, the girl confirmed it, placing it on the table. Already having a plate ready, Hamuko rested against the counter, sighing and waiting by the toaster patiently.

Almost as instantly as the toast had popped out, the girl deftly took the pieces out and tossed them onto the plate, slightly wincing at how hot they were. Grabbing a butter knife, the girl quickly spread an even layer of butter over the pieces. Taking the shaker, she realized that she hadn't said anything to Shinjiro during her cooking fervor. "You ever tried cinnamon sugar on toast? It's great," she chirped, lightly shaking the substance over the two pieces before placing the shaker back in the cabinet. The young girl lifted a piece to her mouth, biting it in a hunger-induced need, before pulling away from it, her tongue now bright red. "Hot.." she muttered, her eyes narrowed. Her stomach growled again, and she groaned as she stared at the delicious, but scalding hot treat in front of her that she could not eat yet.

_She's really that hungry? _Shinjiro watched her actions with interest. He almost snorted out loud when Hamuko burnt herself, but stopped himself, remembering her deadly aim and the close proximity of the butter knife. "Just give it a minute to cool off. And to answer your question, yes, I have. I prefer peanut butter on my toast, though. Or cream cheese."

"Cream cheese?" she muttered through a mouthful of hot toast. "That's a good idea. You sound like you know what you're talking about." Hamuko smirked.

He could've gone off on a tangent. He _wanted _to. But nevertheless he kept mostly quiet, feeling a little weird being in the kitchen with Hamuko. If was concern for her overexerting herself that had made Shinjiro follow her, but he could feel himself becoming slowly more comfortable around her. If there was one thing he had problems with, it was loosening up, but given the right circumstances, it wasn't that difficult. "So..." Shinjiro began, fidgeting with his sleeves. "How long did the doctors say it should be before you'll be a hundred percent?"

"The doctors said to give me another week off of school. But I suppose Minato-kun and Akihiko-senpai don't think I can handle Tartarus for another few weeks, so I guess I'll just entertain myself by making every variation of toast possible for the next month," she giggled, rolling her eyes. She looked down at the other untouched piece of toast, and frowned. "Now that I think about it, I don't know if I'll be able to eat that. You want it?" she asked, even though she knew he didn't particularly like it.

He thoughtfully contemplated the piece of bread for a moment. "Why not?" he asked rhetorically and picked it up. It was a little sweet for his tastes, but overall not a bad piece of toast. "You ain't missing all that much with Tartarus, you know. You risk dying every time you go, you have to drag your teammates around if they get hurt, and you're tired as hell when you make it out. And it's huge. We're probably not even halfway up yet. If I were you, I'd enjoy the downtime while you still have it."

Hamuko chuckled, resting by leaning on the table. "I guess so.. but I feel compelled to go along with you guys. I'm, ehe, kinda stubborn, in case you couldn't pick that up already," she murmured, embarrassed. She really wondered what Tartarus was like. Hamuko had quite an intense interest in the place for some reason that she couldn't understand. She bit her fingernail, feeling slightly nervous. The young girl eyed him curiously, watching him eat. Suddenly, a smirk came over her face. "You really don't like that much, do you?" She tucked a strand of hair away from her face. "I can't imagine you trying Fuuka's food. Minato-kun told me a number of times that someone else had to fix it before her presenting it to me. And it wasn't bad, but, ah..." she trailed off, giving a puzzled look as she tried to find words that described the girl's food.

Shinjiro didn't even have the heart to tell her that he had secretly fixed part of that dish when Fuuka and Minato weren't looking. "Her food isn't as bad as everyone says. She just doesn't have a lot of confidence in herself. I've seen her cook, it's all in what she thinks of it. She'll get better, I think," he confided between bites. It had only taken him a couple of them to get from start to finish. "Not bad, not bad at all."

Hamuko went slightly red at his "compliment." She sighed, throwing up her arms. "I normally cook relatively well, but when I'm so limited like this, I really can't." A pout had creeped upon her face again. "Maybe I could help Fuuka out. I mean, she wants me to join her little cooking club thing. So..." The girl paused, thinking things over. Her eyes snapped open, though, at the realization that they both had been in the kitchen for quite a while talking. "Wonder if everyone else thinks we're dead," she joked, looking at the doorway. She glanced down for a moment. "I feel like I need to repay you all for what you've done for me. Maybe that's why I want to go Tartarus so bad."

The young girl, finished with her meal, gently walked over to the sink to wash the plate. On her way, however, she stumbled for a moment, grabbing onto Shinjiro's coat so that she wouldn't fall flat on her face. Pulling herself back up, she laughed embarrassedly, rubbing the back of her head. "S-Sorry about that. I guess I'm still a little wobbly," she blurted, letting go of him. Her stomach tightened for a moment, and she squinted one eye in discomfort. "I guess I'm just a clutz."

Shinjiro was just about to reply to her remarks about Fuuka when his back forcibly bent uncomfortably when Hamuko grabbed his coat for support. Shinjiro's immediate thought was concerned on whether she had aggravated her wound instead of the fact that his back felt like it was going to break. "Careful," he advised as she let go, looking to her shirt for any telltale signs of reopening it. To his relief, no blood was appearing there to stain the clean fabric. "I'm starting to think giving you a weapon ain't a half bad idea. You can run at the enemy and fall on them. That should take them off guard long enough for us to handle the rest."

"Excuse me?"

Angered by his statement, the girl swung at his arm, making contact with her fist. She pulled it back, her face scrunched up in annoyance. "Don't push me," she puffed, shaking her finger in front of his face. "You may think you're funny, but you're just a...pff.. punk.." The girl could hardly finish her sentence before she exploded in laughter. She looked up at him, smirking. "Okay, you're funny. I'll give you that. But that's all. Don't expect anymore compliments from me. Nooope. Not gonna happen."

"Hmph." Though he put on a small smiling facade, a nasty little voice was breathing in Shinjiro's ear. _Don't get too close to anyone, especially her. You know why. _

Hamuko slowly walked over to the doorway. "Juunnnpeeeiiii," she called. "Shinjiro-senpai's bullying me." Knowing that she had won the battle, she glanced at the boy triumphantly. "Checkmate," she mouthed, smiling in a sickly sweet way, before sticking her tongue out at him. She enjoyed being childish. It was one of the girl's many ways to get what she wanted. Hamuko was a playful person; she knew that they cared about her, so now she could finally open up to them. And it seemed as though that had already happened.

"Iori wouldn't fight me if his life depended on it," Shinjiro called as she left. He didn't follow Hamuko out of the kitchen. He could hear the others laughing in the lounge, yet here he stood, leaning against the counter, cut off from the rest of them. There always seemed to be a barrier separating him from the rest. But tonight, it seemed that it had weakened a little. He wanted that wall back in perfect shape, knowing that if it dissolved, it was only going to be harder when the inevitable finally came.

As Hamuko came in, the tail end of a conversation was taking place. "Look, all I'm saying is that you could have any girl in that school, senpai. So why don't you take advantage of that?" Junpei inquired of Akihiko.

Akihiko turned a shade of red and grew visibly uncomfortable. "I don't even know them, and I couldn't handle them fawning over me every second. I don't need constant gratification. Besides, a relationship is too risky with the Shadows showing themselves every night."

Frowning, Junpei shrugged. "Always worried about your training...So you wouldn't mind sending some of them my way...?"

Hamuko seemed to shuffle in on quite an awkward part of a conversation. "I'm guessing Senpai is quite popular with the girls?" she asked, smiling. She quietly stepped over and sat down with the two, nodding. "Makes sense to me. You're a nice guy, after all." Her face grew hard for a moment as she gave him a serious look.

"But if they're really bothering you, you need to tell them. If you just ignore them or brush them off, they may think you're leading them on."

The girl shrugged. "I know these things. I've seen it happen a lot before. They can really harass you if you let them. Oh, and Junpei-kun.." Hamuko trailed off for a second, rolling her eyes. "You don't need to be going after them either. If I know these girls like I think I do, they're stubborn, and can be pretty rude. You deserve much better." She almost laughed at how she was giving the two of them relationship advice. She did feel the need to help them out, though, as it was a topic that she knew much about. "Take it from a girl, you guys. You'll know when you want to be with someone. Don't just go picking out girls that you think would seem like a status boost. You'll get burned," she stated, more toward Junpei as she smirked at him.

"Maybe you should take an example from Akihiko-senpai, Junpei. Play hard to get," Minato suggested.

"That doesn't work for you either! I know for a couple of girls who would throw themselves at you if you gave them the chance!"

"Really?" Looking pleasantly surprised, Minato shot a sheepish glance at Hamuko. "Sorry."

"I'll find someone eventually, but until then, I'm playing the field, baby!" Junpei pumped his fist in the air, not paying attention to the fact that Akihiko was struggling against a moral dilemma.

"I'm not trying to lead them on at all! I'm not even interested in anyone who's that superficial." Akihiko made a mental note to set them straight at school tomorrow before boxing practice. If he could figure out exactly what to say, that is; conversing with the opposite sex often didn't go well because of his fear of sounding like an idiot. Hamuko could give all the advice she wanted, but it ultimately wouldn't matter if the one carrying them out was lousy at it, as Akihiko considered himself to be.

Hamuko frowned at them. "Are you guys even listening? Fine, don't take advice about girls from a girl, then. See if I care. You know, I could help you ALL get a girl that you wanted," she stated confidently. "But don't ask the new girl for assistance. 'She's new, she doesn't understand the girls at our school!'" she mocked in her best Junpei-voice. "'I mean really, dude, they are all so preppy!' ...Now really. Am I right in thinking that or what?" she asked him, smirking. "I know how you all tick just as well as I know how us girls tick."

The girl stood up, eying the boys with a firm stare. "I am a very good judge of character. Now unless you want me to get to the nitty-gritty on all of the things that you all should not try but have probably done before, I suggest you just be yourselves and have that be the end of it. Because if you're not... ohohoho..."

Yukari, who had just entered only moments earlier from getting something in her room, smirked as she realized she was eavesdropping. "Girls find out everything. We have eyes everywhere. So if you do something wrong and we find out, you're screwed," she laughed, glancing at Hamuko. "Right?"

"Most definitely."

"Yuka-tan has a good point. Girls are like this giant spiderweb. If they get hold of a juicy piece of info, they started spreading it through the web network until everyone knows." Junpei shivered, envisioning the enormous metaphorical web and the girls of the school as equally large spiders.

"We weren't ignoring your advice," Akihiko explained briskly, steering the conversation into more stable waters. "We just...uh..." He had nearly said that the girls at Gekkoukan were indeed different, but Hamuko and Yukari had just destroyed that opinion moments ago. He stammered, trying to find a way to recover his dignity.

"We're just guys," Minato saved him. "It's a bad excuse, I know, and you can't blame it all on the Y chromosome, but it's just how things are." _Though I wouldn't really mind those names... _"Besides, don't tell me that you girls don't sit around with each other and chat about guys the same way we do with girls."

"Ahem, well..." That shut the girl up quickly. Her face tinged with pink at thinking of the boys in this very room alone, Hamuko hiding her embarrassment under a curtain of bangs. "I-I shouldn't be talking, should I?" She sat down, laughing embarrassedly. "I guess you're right. I'm sorry. Boys win. This time," she joked.

Fuuka popped into the room, too, hearing them discuss the subject. "Do you like anyone, Hamuko-chan?"

Just the suggestion of liking someone made the girl's face flush scarlet. "Um...ah... I d-don't know..." She fiddled with the finished edges of her shirt, trying to focus more on the fabric than the subject at hand.

Yukari grinned. "That's incriminating evidence," she chirped.

Junpei and Minato high-fived triumphantly and Junpei whistled suggestively. "Ooh, Hamu-tan. Ve-ery suspicious. Give us the dirt, we won't tell!"

Akihiko's eyes widened a little as he quickly put two and two together. _Unless she met someone at the hospital or she's talking about someone from her hometown, the only people she's come into contact with are... _"Junpei, let's not push her. This isn't exactly something you talk about openly, much less with people you don't know really all that well."

Snickering as he listened to them, Minato piped up. "Listen to you guys, making such a big deal out of relationships. What ever happened to 'what will be, will be?'" It was his own personal motto, and the saying he lived by every day. "It's not like it's something you _have _to have. Sure, it's nice, but sometimes it makes more problems than it's worth, and I personally have enough problems already."

Hamuko's heart caught in her throat. She looked from Minato, to Junpei, to Akihiko, her face growing more and more red with each glance. Positively overwhelmed, the girl crouched, faceplanting into the cushion as she placed a pillow over her head. "Mmpff," she muttered incoherently, trying to disappear in front of both the boys and Fuuka and Yukari. Clinging to the pillow as some sort of crutch, the girl held it to her chest and quickly trotted away from the group, walking into the kitchen only to see Shinjiro still standing there, staring at her with his usual surly expression.

Was this nightmare _over_ yet? "Ah, um, you- Well, they were just- And I- GOTTA GO!" she squeaked as she dropped the pillow, her face almost purple as she tried to spit out what had just happened and why she was so embarrassed. She nearly flew out of the kitchen at quite a speed for someone injured. Avoiding the group in the dorm again, Hamuko targeted the young boy sitting at the table far away.

"U-Um, Ken! I'll help you with that homework! I'm really good at uh..." She quickly glanced at the book his face was buried in, snatching it from right under his nose. "..Chemistry! L-Let's go!"

"Hamuko-senpai, what are you-"

Without even being able to spit out another coherent sentence, the girl grabbed the boy's arm forcefully, nearly dragging him upstairs. "See-you-guys-gonna-go-help-Ken-out-bye!" she blurted before she disappeared in a flash up the stairs.

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><p><em>To Be Continued...<em>

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><p><em>-gigglesnort- Oh. Right. I'm supposed to be telling you stuff. xD "Affectus" means "the affection." DAWWWW... -smack- In my research I've done with these words, all synonyms appear to be related to some sort of insanity or craziness. I suppose it makes sense. Love is crazy. xDDD Especially here.<br>_


	11. Tutela

_Alrighty, dearies! So sorry it took this long to get a chapter out! Schoolwork is a mess at the end of the semester. Ah, well. Can't be helped. This chapter has some fluff and funny junk in it again; I must be in a good mood. xD Oh. And I've noticed the reviews have diminished almost to none... I really love hearing what you guys think of my story; it helps motivate me to put more of it up here. So if you could review this for me, even just a word or two to know that SOMEONE is still reading this and is not bored with my cutesy drabble(xD), I'd love it. Kthx._

_~Ami_

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><p><em>After the... Incident...<em>

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><p>Yukari and Fuuka blinked for a few times, both in shock. "Uh... I'm pretty sure she likes someone," Yukari murmured, raising her eyebrows and looking concerned. "Shinjiro-senpai's probably going to wonder what the heck we just said to her with the way she sped out of there."<p>

Fuuka laughed awkwardly. "I don't think we should bother her about it. I mean, after all, who could blame her? Everyone took care of her this past week; she probably made a connection with someone." She giggled a little, putting her hand in front of her mouth. "I'm actually kind of eager to find out. What about you, Yukari-chan?"

She smirked. "Yeah. Plus, that means we can bother you guys until you spill, too. Don't think you're off the hook yet. I already know Junpei's got the hots for her."

"Junpei's got the hots for everyone," Mitsuru called as she passed by in the hallway with a handful of books, quickly disappearing with a call of, "Iori! Your grades in Physics need to come up, by the way!"

"Physics?" Junpei moaned. "Physics is the worst...Can't you tutor me, Mitsuru-senpai?" But she was gone, and the prospect of a "tutor" with her.

Looking extremely confused, Shinjiro stepped out from the kitchen doorway. "What was that all about? She came in then ran like a bat out of hell, and then started yelling something about Ken and Chemistry. Did I miss something, or am I just clueless?"

Akihiko pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, feeling as though he were the one who was actually clueless. "Ask one of the girls to explain it, because apparently they understand it all."

"Hamuko's got a thing for one of us!" Junpei interrupted gleefully. "We just don't know who yet!"

"You don't know that for a fact!" Minato insisted. "Maybe she feels uncomfortable talking about her feelings with other people. There's a bunch of reasons why she could've acted like that, so don't jump to conclusions so fast."

With one eyebrow raised, Shinjiro looked skeptical. This was going to make it very difficult for any of them to focus when they went to Tartarus later, him included. Though a little curious about the situation, he honestly had little interest in the drama.

Fuuka looked sheepish. "I guess we pushed her a little too much. I feel bad now," she muttered, trailing off.

Yukari comforted the girl. "It wasn't really our faults. She's a little stressed out. I'd be, too, if I finally got to have some freedom to get around. Moving to a new place so quickly is pretty overwhelming." The girl glanced at Junpei, who had a mix of interest at Hamuko's discomfort and dread at Mitsuru's order. "Do you guys think I should go talk to her? I mean, Ken's probably wondering what's going on. Unless she _is_helping him, after all. Or one of you guys could do it."

Fuuka suddenly perked up. "Oh, oh! I know! I could go make her something in the kitchen to cheer her up!"

"Well, Fuuka, I don't know if-"

But the blue haired girl rushed into the kitchen before Yukari could say another word. The girl laughed in exasperation, rolling her eyes. "She's something else," she chuckled.

"Maybe you should talk to her, Takeba," Akihiko suggested tentatively. "She'd open up to a girl before one of us, I think. And since Fuuka's doing her thing, that leaves you by default."

Minato echoed his sentiments. "I'll go with you. Someone's gonna have to save Ken from his Chemistry-induced torture. I need to head upstairs anyway to get ready to go to Tartarus tonight." He mused to himself, wondering if his preferred weapon, the lightweight one-handed sword first given to him by Mitsuru, was sharp enough. Minato couldn't remember the last time he had honed the blade; he'd have to do that before they left later that night.

Yukari nodded quickly. "Kay. Let's go. We'll leave you all to your, uh, conversations," she chuckled, before standing up with Minato to go upstairs.

As the two reached the next level of the dorm, laughing could be clearly heard.

"See? It's like, uh, like THIS!"

"Hamuko-senpai? Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure! C'mon, Ken, I got an A+ in this class!"

"Hahaha, okay, Hamuko-senpai. I trust you."

Yukari peeked out from the stairs. The two were seated at a table, laughing with each other like they had been good friends for a while. _Wow, she's got a talent for making that kid open up,_ she thought in surprise. _I can't even do that..._

Hamuko turned around quickly, sensing the presence of the two. She flushed red again, laughed nervously, and flipped her head around again to continue to point at a problem of Ken's. "Now, see, if this element is present..."

"You okay, Hamuko-chan? You ran out of there pretty quickly."

She bit her lip nervously. Knowing that they were unable to see her face, she waved her hand behind her head. "Nah, nah, I'm good! Don't worry bout it." She was concealing her discomfort fine from them, but Ken could see it clearly plastered on her face.

He glanced up worriedly up at her, then turned his head around toward the others, giving them an unsure look before turning back. _She's definitely not fine... Wonder why that bothered her so much?_

"Okay, then..." Minato conceded. He bid farewell to Yukari and made his way down the hall to his room. His sword was visibly propped in the corner, its blade gleaming blindingly in the late evening sunset. He tossed the hilt from hand the hand, then carefully ran his finger down the sharp edge of the blade. His finger wasn't cut, confirming his suspicions that it had grown dull. Deciding to do this down in the lounge, Minato dug around in search of his knife stone. He found it shoved under his bed and wondered how it had managed to end up down there in the first place. Though a little clunky, he'd gotten it for a good price from Officer Kurosawa after explaining that his sword wasn't as effective as it used to be.

On his way out, a thought occurred to Minato. He closed his door as quietly as he could and retraced his steps, all done as silently as a mouse. He hated to eavesdrop, but maybe he could overhear a little bit of Ken and Hamuko's conversation. Judging from the look on Ken's face earlier and Hamuko's pointedly avoiding facial contact, it was obvious that everything was _not _okay.

Yukari, unable to think of anything else to do, said goodbye to the girl and Ken. "Well, I guess I'll just be downstairs then. Let me know if you need anything, Hamuko-chan."

Once the girl had left the room, she let out a large sigh, finally glad that they were out of their hair. "Sorry, Ken-kun," she confessed. "I'm a little stressed out."

The young boy, not quite sure how to comfort the much older girl, traced circles on his paper with his pencil. "S'alright. But I don't think you should lie to them."

"I know, I'm just afraid they'll think I'm a basket-case and not like me... Am I really that bad?"

"No, no!" Ken looked almost frustrated. "Why would you think that?"

The girl let her head drop onto the table with a "thud" on impact. "I don't know... Having older kids to live with is awkward, and I just don't want to seem stup-"

"Imagine how I feel."

Ken's brutally honest statement made the girl cheer up instantly as she chuckled, ruffling his hair. "You're right. I'm sorry. I should feel more for you. We can be buddies, right? You _don't_ act your age.. I _act_your age... It'll work out perfect!"

The young boy chuckled, coughing as he tried to compose himself. "Y-Yeah."

"So, what do you think of the others?"

"Well, I guess-"

"Be honest, ya little goof," Hamuko barked, laughing.

"Um, well... Yukari-san's nice. So is Fuuka-san, but she's a little spacey sometimes. Akihiko-senpai almost always seems focused on fighting. Shinjiro-senpai's pretty quiet. Mitsuru-senpai is nice, too, but she can be a little scary sometimes. Junpei-kun... uh... He's a little crazy. And Minato-kun... He seems pretty neat, but he's normally reserved too. It's like he's in his own world, especially when he gets ready for Tartarus. It's a little unsettling."

Minato, from his hiding place around the corner, could understand where Ken was coming from. When he fought, it was like nothing else mattered but the feeling of his sword cutting into the Shadows and the adrenaline rush of summoning a Persona. He clutched his sword tighter to his chest and listened closer. Hamuko sounded like her old self as she talked with Ken. Guilt washed over Minato as he thought about things that were said a little while before. There hadn't been any harmful intentions, but Hamuko seemed to have been more affected by their words than they all realized. There had to be some kind of olive branch he could extend to her to make up for it, but right now nothing was coming to mind.

Hamuko nodded, understanding the boy. She paused for a moment, thinking that she heard something. Closing her eyes in concentration, she tried to pinpoint the small "clink" sound that she heard. It came from the hallway. The girl narrowed her eyes, looking positively miffed.

Ken turned, looking completely confused. He was about to open his mouth to say something, but the girl silenced her by putting her index finger in front of her mouth.

The girl got up from her chair quietly, acting as though nothing were different. "Yeah, I can see where you're coming from. Minato-kun seems like a nice guy, though. I suppose I wouldn't save him for no reason at all. But, you know...there is something strange about him." She carefully stepped over to the hallway, keeping herself still hidden from the boy. "In fact, he's very...-"

Hamuko flipped around the corner, grabbing the boy by the ribbon tied around his neck deftly as she slammed her other hand against the wall by his head. "-sneaky." She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Is spying really the way to go, Minato-kun? I'm not stupid, you know. I knew you went into your room for something and hadn't come back yet. So spill. If you want to talk to me, just DO IT. Please?"

Ken, shocked, stood up, his chair clanging to the floor in a rush. "M-Minato-kun?" he blurted, rushing up to the two. His cheeks were bright red; he had no idea that the boy had heard everything he said, including the things about him.

Crestfallen, Minato clenched his teeth. "I didn't mean to spy, it just sort of happened." The excuse sounded miserable even to him. Her grip on his neck was slowly inducing a choking feeling in his Adam's Apple. Hamuko's free hand threateningly quivered against the wall just inches from his face. Minato swallowed his fear and bravely looked her straight in the eye. "Yes, I shouldn't have done it, and for that I'm sorry. I just wanted to know what was wrong, that's all."

Almost looking hurt at what she did, and surprised by his sudden bravery, the girl retreated, letting go of him. "You could have just asked me..." she murmured, biting her lip. She nodded her head. "I'm sorry for that. I just wasn't really comfortable around you all yet. And I... didn't know what to do..." She looked back, realizing Ken was watching the two intently. "Ken? Do you mind if you finish number 27 while I talk to Minato-kun? Just used that formula I showed you, and I'll check your answer in a minute."

He nodded, respectfully bowing out of the conversation, knowing his place well.

"Now really, Minato-kun. I'll only trust you all more if you just be honest with me. I don't particularly like people snooping. It makes me feel like I did something wrong. And now you know about all of my insecurities," she puffed, her cheeks flushing red as she looked down at the carpet. "I try to act gutsy cause I don't know how to cover it up. I was finally starting to open up to you all, and the walls were coming down, but it was just.. too close.." She wasn't going to tell him that she had a problem with relationships. She was afraid of others getting close to her. Ever since what had happened with her parents, she was afraid to love anyone after that. "I don't know how to get rid of those walls... I don't know if Ikutsuki had told you all about my past life... but.."

"We all have our own pasts. Me, Akihiko, Fuuka, Yukari, every single one of us has suffered in some way. I lost my parents too, a long time ago. But we've all accepted that life has to move on, even though they're not here." Talking about his parents was still painful, even after all this time. It was a fresh wound that would scab over, only to be ripped open yet again by some seemly insignificant thing that triggered the memories.

The remnants that Minato did have were blurry and faded. A woman with dark hair, a man with light eyes, but their faces were gone to him. He wished he had a picture, or even the slightest token of their memory. Yet Minato went through some days and most of his insomnia-induced spells contemplating everything that he didn't know about them: their personalities, their favorite foods, the extent of their love for their young son. What lullabies would his mother sing to him, and what fatherly advice would his dad give to him if he knew his son's mission? Just when Minato thought he'd severed the chain completely, it would all come back accompanied with the crippling agony of ignorance.

He peeled himself off the wall and closer to Hamuko, but not in a way that would make her feel uncomfortable. His heart was heavy and his face melancholy. "I won't spy again, I promise. But just swear to me one thing: don't push yourself away from us. You're not the only one with walls."

Her eyes widened as she realized that he seemed to have the same past. Hamuko's face fell, though, as she murmured, "I'm sick of everyone dying around me. Maybe that's why I saved you, too. Maybe that's why I want to go to Tartarus so badly. Because... I don't want to lose anyone anymore..." She closed her eyes as she remembered when she woke up in her dorm, terrified, scared... determined to save him.

"I burned Yukari just to get to you... I didn't want another to die. I'm so tired of death, and seeing the Dark Hour for the first time made me relive that fear." She took a deep breath. "I will promise.." Hamuko stepped closer, biting her lip as she went so far as to wrap her arms around the boy in a hug. "I won't push myself away from you all.. but you have to promise me... Don't die on me, okay?" she whispered into his ear, her body quivering as flashes of her past with her parents flew through her mind.

Ken glanced back only to see the girl nearly strangling Minato moments earlier was now hugging him. _Weird,_ he thought. _I just don't understand them. ...Yeesh, if Junpei saw this, who knows what he'd do? I can hear the rumors spreading already._

Hamuko felt bashful at suddenly using him as her crutch again, albeit a different type of crutch. She closed her eyes as she tried to think of what to say next, her fingers tensing up on the boy's back. "H-How do you cope, Minato-kun? I've tried nearly everything..."

Hamuko's arms felt surprisingly solid as she held him close. In that moment, Minato wondered how _she _had managed to cope with it. He felt like her only lifeline, tethering her to sanity in this new, unfamiliar place. "Ken said that when I fight, it's like I'm in my own world. It's true, but there's not a day that goes by where I don't think, 'Am I going to die tonight? Will someone else be picked off by the Shadows because I couldn't do anything about it?' It's a hard way to live." He had two very different lives, one of an average, but bright high school student, the other that of a vigilante, guarding the entire city to the best of his abilities and receiving nothing in return. "We might seem brave to you, but inside we're all afraid of losing each other.

"I don't know how I cope, to be honest. Sometimes it's really hard." Minato's entire face suddenly softened and he returned Hamuko's embrace, feeling her trembling against him, more afraid than he had ever seen her, including the night where her death seemed a guarantee. He could see Ken over her shoulder, looking extremely uncomfortable; Minato gave him an apologetic smile. "It takes a lot of time, but I think I'm okay because I know that life is going to go on, with or without me. And I'd rather be with it."

The girl closed her eyes in relaxation as she felt the boy hold onto her tighter. She stopped shaking and her body calmed down, feeling an intense feeling of relief. "M-Minato-kun," she murmured, her fears diminishing as the boy did not let go. "Thank you. I'm just trying so hard to be what you all want me to be. I'm sorry I might be using you as a crutch for a while; you just seem to be the only one that can understand my situation." She sighed, her head seamlessly falling onto his shoulder as she rested her weak body from all of the exertion. "This means a lot to me that you care, you know."

Yukari, who had begun to climb the stairs again to check on Minato, immediately stopped in her tracks as she saw the two in the hallway, hugging each other closely. Her face turning red, the girl quickly dashed back downstairs to prevent being seen. A strange emotion ran through her body as she slowly returned to the lounge, confused. Was it anger? Jealousy? Envy? _H-He was just trying to comfort her... Right?_ she thought, as she sat down, uncharacteristically silent. _Why do I feel like this?_

Minato smiled as Hamuko's head fell to his shoulder and rested in the crook of his shoulder blade. "Just know that you can talk to any of us, okay?" A sensation of warmth was coursing through him like wildfire, setting every nerve ending in his body blazing. He dimly realized that he was still holding his sword and knife stone and was abruptly reminded of the night's mission. Suddenly very intense, he had one final thing to ask. "I have to go get ready for tonight. Can you promise me that you'll stay here without an argument? Please?"

Hamuko nodded, her hair brushing up against the boy's neck. "Yeah. I promise. Promise you won't die?" she joked. Reluctantly letting go of him, the girl stepped away, putting her hands behind her back. She smiled, blinking the small amount of moisture away that had accumulated in her eyes from the memories of her parents. "Who are you going to take with you tonight, Minato-kun? Have you decided yet?" It seemed as though everything with him was natural; she didn't feel like she had to put on an act, as she seemed to do with the others.

One floor down, Junpei saw Yukari rushing down the stairs. "What's wrong, Yuka-tan? You look like you just saw a whole army of ghosts."

Yukari stopped in front of Junpei, her expression unreadable. "It's nothing, Junpei," she confessed, almost coldly. She never really thought that she had feelings for Minato before. But something clicked in her when she saw Hamuko with her arms wrapped around him. Nevertheless, she pushed that feeling aside. But...what if they really could connect more than she could with him? After all, it was only her father who passed away; Minato and Hamuko lost both of their parents. Feeling almost guilty at her assumption of the situation, the girl looked away from Junpei to the floor. "Hamuko was upset. Minato-kun's making sure she's alright." She sighed, almost seeming to wish that she could be in the girl's place; the new ones always were the center of attention, and especially in her case, Minato owed his own life to.

Akihiko glanced sideways at Yukari, knowing that she wasn't telling the full story. Even worse was the sinking feeling of knowing that Hamuko had been hurt by their conversation. Remembering to apologize as soon as he saw her again, Akihiko settled back into his chair and fiddled with his practice boxing gloves. They were starting to fall apart from daily use and the stitching was coming apart. They'd either have to be replaced or repaired soon. Frowning, Akihiko placed them on the table and turned his attention back to Yukari. "Takeba, was everything alright? Did it look like he had things handled?"

"Oh, yeah. No problems to report, Senpai," Yukari muttered, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. The girl sat down on one of the fluffy couches, closing her eyes in exhaustion. "A lot has happened today... I'm kinda tired... But I still want to go to Tartarus," she murmured.

"Are you sure?" Junpei questioned. "You do look pretty tired." The glare he received in response to that statement was positively menacing. "I didn't mean that in a bad way! Sheesh."

Yukari, still snarling at Junpei, tried to calm herself down. "I'm fine, Junpei," she insisted, rolling her eyes. "Geez. ...Wonder who's all going to come tonight?"

Meanwhile, Minato shook his head at Hamuko. "I'll be fine. I don't know who to take just yet." He thought deeply for a few moments before making a decision. "I'm thinking Mitsuru-senpai, definitely. I'll see if Yukari wants to go. Akihiko-senpai will probably want to go too." It seemed like a fair team, and all three of them would be raring to go quickly.

"Alright," she answered, smiling. The young girl's face fell for a moment, though, as she calculated the outcome. "Wait a minute. You're going to leave me alone with Junpei. And no girls. Except for Aigis, but she's a little out there. ...You better have your communicator on you, or I promise you he'll be dead before you get back." Hamuko laughed, normalcy and content returning to her tired eyes. "I swear I'll kill him if Shinjiro-senpai doesn't first," she choked out, snickering.

"I think Shinjiro-senpai would get to him first. He isn't exactly known for his patience." Minato took his phone from his pocket and flipped it open, checking the time. "It's starting to get a little late. I need to go tell them who's going tonight so they don't jump down my throat about it." Hamuko's weariness did not go unnoticed. "Why don't you try and rest a little? I'll tell Junpei and the others to leave you in peace for a little bit, if you want."

Hamuko nodded, smiling at the fact that he was concerned about her. "Yeah, sure, I will. I'm just going to help Ken finish up his homework first." And with that the girl pat her hand against the boy's arm, giving him a sincere look. "Thanks again. Be sure to give me some updates tonight on how everyone's doing," she muttered as she backed away from him. "I won't be sleeping during the Dark Hour, anyway. And _you_thought you had bad insomnia. I've been unable to sleep through the Dark Hour since the day I got here. All of those nights in the hospital.. Yeah, you can only imagine how freaky that was." She smirked as she turned around, walking back over to where Ken was sitting.

Minato shuddered, imaging that scenario. The spooky quiet of the hospital, unable to get out of bed, blood on the walls..."Well, you can keep the others company, at least. See ya."

He made his way downstairs, dragging his two objects with him. "Hey!" he announced as he hit the final stair. "Mitsuru-senpai, Akihiko-senpai, Yukari! You guys ready for tonight?"

Akihiko grinned confidently. "You have to even ask?"

Junpei frowned, but his countenance brightened as a thought occurred to him. "Wait, that means I get to stay here with Hamu-tan? Sw-eet!"

An impulsive anger grinned Minato as he gave his friend a warning look. "Keep it G-rated, Junpei. She's in a better mood than earlier, but she's still a little unsure of everything that's going on." The hard edge to Minato's voice disappeared as he teased Junpei. "Besides, I give Shinjiro-senpai permission to knock sense into you if he needs to."

Shinjiro smirked. "Last time I checked, I didn't need your permission, Arisato."

Mitsuru, walking into the lounge as she heard her name being called, nodded. "I'm ready, Arisato. It's good that we will still have Iori, Aigis, and Aragaki to stay here with Arasawa. That way, if any trouble arises, I'm sure they can handle it." She gave the two boys that she spoke about a stern look, making sure that they were listening.

Hamuko sighed as she finally finished helping Ken with his assignment. "They sure give you a lot of work."

"Yeah." The young boy packed up his things, smiling. "Thanks for the help, Hamuko-san."

"No problem," the girl chirped. "But, uh, I'm gonna go back down to the lounge and relax. I'm a bit tired."

And with that, Hamuko trotted downstairs only to see a large group gathered down there. "Good luck," she mentioned to those who were leaving. The girl walked over to the large sofa, grasping a throw blanket that was draped over it. Effortlessly, the girl threw the blanket over her body as she simultaneously grabbed her book for literature class and laid down on the couch, snuggling into the cushions as her eyes closed tiredly. "Stupid...homework..." she muttered under her breath, trying to focus on the words that were becoming fuzzy on the page.

"You have how long until you go back, and you're already getting sucked into the work? Geez." Just thinking of the no-doubt enormous stack of books that Hamuko probably had was daunting to Junpei.

"Wanna help?" she joked, rolling her eyes at Junpei. Hamuko giggled as Koromaru jumped up onto the couch, snuggling with her. "Koro-chan does, I guess..."

Minato's sword made a sleek metallic sound as he started running the length of the blade across the stone. It was tricky work, considering the rectangular stone was much smaller than the sword itself. His shoulder kept extended out as far as it could go above his body, which wasn't far, considering he was sitting down on the end of one of the couches near Yukari. He wasn't really focused on his sword, though; more on the irony of the contrast between two different types of people. Here he was, honing a steel blade intent on slaying supernatural creatures to paper-thin sharpness, while Hamuko sat tranquilly, snuggled under a blanket and reading a book.

Also piquing Minato's interest was the apparent lack of interest Yukari had made at his announcement. Usually she was elated at going to Tartarus, but now she just seemed icy and distant, even though she was only sitting a few feet away. _Did someone say something to her and make her mad? _"Hey, Yukari-chan, are you feeling alright? You're just really quiet all of a sudden."

Yukari perked up at Minato addressing her. "Nah, I'm fine. Just a little tired, but I really want to go to Tartarus," she confessed, smiling and conjuring up her best happy disguise for him. She wondered why she seemed so jealous of Hamuko. She seemed to just be a girl in a real weak spot; she couldn't blame her for that. It comforted her, though, that she would have Minato to herself for that night. She always seemed kind towards him, and it wasn't as if she was a flirt.

But feelings began to develop that the girl didn't even know she had. She just wanted to be with him much more often than the others. Maybe it was the fact that he had saved her in the beginning, or that he could help her get through her tough times without her father... Nonetheless, she knew that they had a special bond, whether it included Hamuko or not.

Minato nodded his head, feeling relief that Yukari was feeling okay, though something about her still seemed a little off. He peered at his sword, concentrating deeply on the blade. It would take a while before it met his satisfaction. "Just be ready and we'll meet at the entrance to Tartarus in a few hours. You all know what to do."

* * *

><p><em>"Tutela" means "protection." Please R&amp;R, lovlies! =3<em>


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